WILLIAM 



rferaceBji 
Tolstoy 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRTSON. 



vTbe ffree B(je |pre06 ii an earnest effort to spread those 
deep convictions in which the noblest spirits of every age and 
race have believed — that man's true aim and happiness is 
"unity in reason and love" ; the realisation of the brotherhood 
of all men : that we must all strive to eradicate, each from him- 
self, those false ideas, false feelings, and false desires — personal, 
social, religious, economic — which alienate us one from another 
and produce nine-tenths oi all human suffering. 

Of these truly Christian and universal religious aspirations 
the writings of Leo Tolstoy are to-day perhaps the most definite 
expression, and it is to the production of very cheap editions of 
his extant religious, social and ethical works, together with 
much unpublished matter and his new writings, to which we 
have special access (being in close touch with Tolstoy), that we 
are at present confining ourselves. We earnestly trust that all 
who sympathise will continue to assist us by every means in 
their power, and help to make the publications yet more widely 
known. It is Tolstoy's desire that his books shall not be copy- 
righted, and as we share this view all JfCCC fl>tC6S 
translations and editions (with one, as yet unavoidable excep- 
tion), are and will be issued free of copyright and may be 
reprinted by anyone. We have already commenced to collect 
all Tolstoy's essays into more permanent cloth bound volumes. 

Suggestions, inquiries, offers of help and co-operation will 
be gratefully welcomed. For the hundreds of sympathetic 
letters and the practical help in making known and circulating 
the books which we have received already, we are very grateful, 
and tender our hearty thanks 

Orders and commercial communications should be addressed 
to "Gbe jftee UgC |>re60" English Branch, n, Pater- 
noster Row, London, E.C. All other communications to 
the "Editor of The Free Age Press," Christchurch, 
Hants. 

VLADIMIR TCHERTKOFF, Editor. 
THOMAS LAURIE, Publisher. 



1 

I 



THE FREE AGE PRESS 

Editor— V. Tchertkoff. 



a Sbort 
Btoarapbp of 

mruiuam %io^ 

By V. Tchertkoff and F. Holah. 

With an Introductory Appreciation of 
His Life and Work 

m 

(No Rights Reserved.) 

lon&on: 

The Free Age Press, 
13, Paternoster Row, London. 



INTRODUCTION. 



BY LEO TOLSTOY. 
{Letter to V. Tchertkoff.) 

I thank you very much for sending me your 
biography of Garrison. 

Reading it, I lived again through the spring 
of my awakening to true life. While reading 
Garrison's speeches and articles I vividly re- 
called to mind the spiritual joy which I ex- 
perienced twenty years ago, when I found out 
that the law of non-resistance — to which I had 
been inevitably brought by the recognition of 
the Christian teaching in its full meaning, and 
which revealed to me the great joyous ideal to 
be realised in Christian life — was even as far 
back as the forties not only recognised and 
proclaimed by Garrison (about Ballou I learnt 
later), but also placed by him at the foundation 
of his practical activity in the emancipation of 
the slaves. 

My joy was at that time mingled with bewild- 
erment as to how it was that this great Gospel 
truth, fifty years ago explained by Garrison, 
could have been so hushed up that I had now to 
express it as something new. 

My bewilderment was especially increased by 
the circumstance that not only people antago- 
nistic to the progress of mankind, but also the 
most advanced and progressive men, were 
either completely indifferent to this law, or 



vi. 



INTRODUCTION. 



actually opposed to the promulgation of that 
which lies at the foundation of all true progress. 

But as time went on it became clearer and 
clearer to me that the general indifference and 
opposition which were then expressed, and still 
continue to be expressed — pre-eminently 
amongst political workers — towards this law 
of non-resistance are merely symptoms of the 
great significance of this law. 

" The motto upon our banner," wrote Garri- 
son in the midst of his activity, " has been 
from the commencement of our moral warfare 
' Our Country is the World ; Our Country- 
men are all Mankind.' We trust that it 
will be our only epitaph. Another motto we 
have chosen is, ' Universal Emancipation.' 
Up to this time we have limited its application 
to those who in this country are held by 
Southern taskmasters as marketable commo- 
dities, goods and chattels, and implements of 
husbandry. Henceforth we shall use it in its 
widest latitude — the emancipation of our whole 
race from the dominion of man, from the 
thraldom of self, from the government of brute 
force, from the bondage of sin, and the bringing 
it under the dominion of God, the control of an 
inward spirit, the government of the law of 
love. . . ." 

Garrison, as a man enlightened by the Chris- 
tian teaching, having begun with the practical 
aim of strife against slavery, very soon under- 
stood that the cause of slavery was not the 
casual temporary seizure by the Southerners 
of a few millions of negroes, but the ancient 
„ and universal recognition, contrary to the 



INTRODUCTION. Vii. 

Christian teaching, of the right of coercion on + 
the part of certain people in regard to certain 
others. A pretext for recognising this right 
has always been that men regarded it as possi- 
able to eradicate or diminish evil by brute force, 
i.e., also by evil. Having once realised this 
fallacy, Garrison put forward against slavery 
neither the suffering of slaves, nor the cruelty 
of slaveholders, nor the social equality of men, 
but the eternal Christian law of refraining from 
opposing evil by violence, i.e., of "non-resis- 
tance." Garrison understood that which the 
most advanced among the fighters against 
slavery did not understand : that the only irre- 
futable argument against slavery is the denial 
of the right of any man over the liberty of 
another under any conditions whatsoever. 

The Abolitionists endeavoured to prove that 
slavery was unlawful, disadvantageous, cruel : 
that it depraved men, and so on ; but the de- 
fenders of slavery in their turn proved the un- 
timeliness and danger of emancipation, and the 
evil results liable to follow it. Neither the one 
nor the other could convince his opponent. 
Whereas Garrison, understanding that the 
slavery of the negroes was only a particular 
instance of universal coercion, put forward a 
general principle with which it was impossible 
not to agree — the principle that under no pre- 
text has any man the right to dominate, i.e., to 
use coercion over his fellows. Garrison did not 
so much insist on the right of negroes to be 
free as he denied the right of any man what- 
soever, or of any body of men, forcibly to coerce 
another man in any way. For the purpose of 



viii. 



INTRODUCTION. 



combating slavery he advanced the principle of 
struggle against all the evil of the world. 

This principle advanced by Garrison was 
irrefutable, but it affected and even overthrew 
all the foundations of established social order, 
and therefore those who valued their position 
in that existing order were frightened at its 
announcement, and still more at its application 
to life ; they endeavoured to ignore it, to elude 
it ; they hoped to attain their object without 
the declaration of the principle of non-resist- 
ance to evil by violence, and that application of 
it to life which would destroy, as they thought, 
all orderly organisation of human life. The 
result of this evasion of the recognition of the 
unlawfulness of coercion was that fratricidal 
war which, having externally solved the slavery 
question, introduced into the life of the Ameri- 
can people the new — perhaps still greater — evil 
of that corruption which accompanies every 
war. 

Meanwhile the substance of the question re- 
mained unsolved, and the same problem, only in 
a new form, now stands before the people of 
the United States. Formerly the question was 
how to free the negroes from the violence of the 
slaveholders ; now the question is how to 
free the negroes from the violence of all the 
whites, and the whites from the violence of all 
the blacks. 

The solution of this problem in a new form is 
to be accomplished certainly not by the lynch- 
ing of the negroes, nor by any skilful and liberal 
measures of American politicians, but only by 
the application to life of that same principle 



INTRODUCTION. 



ix. 



which was proclaimed by Garrison half a cen- 
tury ago. 

The other day in one of the most progressive 
periodicals I read the opinion of an educated 
and intelligent writer, expressed with complete 
assurance in its correctness, that the recog- 
nition by me of the principle of non-resistance 
to evil by violence is a lamentable and somewhat 
comic delusion which, taking into consideration 
my old age and certain merits, can only be 
passed over in indulgent silence. 

Exactly the same attitude towards this ques- 
tion did I encounter in my conversation with 
the remarkably intelligent and progressive 
American Bryan. He also, with the evident 
intention of gently and courteously showing 
me my delusion, asked me how I explained my 
strange principle of non-resistance to evil by 
violence, and as usual he brought forward the 
argument, which seems to everyone irrefutable, 
of the brigand who kills or violates a child. I 
told him that I recognise non-resistance to evil 
by violence because, having lived seventy-five 
years, I have never, except in discussions, en- 
countered that fantastic brigand, who, before 
my eyes desired to kill or violate a child, but 
that perpetually I did and do see not one but 
millions of brigands using violence towards 
children and women and men and old people 
and all the labourers in the name of the recog- 
nised right of violence over one's fellows. When 
I said this my kind interlocutor, with his 
naturally quick perception, not giving me time 
to finish, laughed, and recognised that my 
argument was satisfactory. 



INTRODUCTION, 



No one has seen the fantastic brigand, but 
the world, groaning under violence, lies before 
everyone's eyes. Yet no one sees, nor desires 
to see, that the strife which can liberate man 
from violence is not a strife with the fantastic 
brigand, but with those actual brigands who 
practise violence over men. 

Non-resistance to evil by violence really 
means only that the mutual interaction of 
rational beings upon each other should consist 
not in violence (which can be only admitted in 
relation to lower organisms deprived of reason) 
but in rational persuasion ; and that, conse- 
quently, towards this substitution of rational 
persuasion for coercion all those should strive 
*' who desire to further the welfare of mankind. 

It would seem quite clear that in the course 
of the last century, fourteen million people were 
killed, and that now the labour and lives of 
millions of men are spent on wars necessary to 
no one, and that all the land is in the hands of 
those who do not work on it, and that all the 
produce of human labour is swallowed up by 
those who do not work, and that all the deceits 
which reign in the world exist only because 
violence is allowed for the purpose of suppress- 
ing that which appears evil to some people, and 
that therefore one should endeavour to replace 
violence by persuasion. That this may become 
possible it is necessary first of all to renounce 
the right of coercion. 

Strange to say, the most progressive people 
of our circle regard it as dangerous to repudiate 
the right of violence and to endeavour to 
replace it by persuasion. These people, having 



INTRODUCTION. 



xi. 



decided that it is impossible to persuade a 
brigand not to kill a child, think it also im- 
possible to persuade the working men not to 
take the land and the produce of their labour 
from those who do not work, and therefore 
these people find it necessary to coerce the 
labourers. 

So that however sad it is to say so, the only 
explanation of the non-understanding of the 
significance of the principle of non-resistance to 
evil by violence consists in this, that the con- 
ditions of human life are so distorted that those 
who examine the principle of non-resistance 
imagine that its adaptation to life and the sub- 
stitution of persuasion for coercion would 
destroy all possibility of that social organisation 
and of those conveniences of life which they en- 
joy- 

But the change need not be feared ; the prin- 
ciple of non-resistance is not a principle of 
coercion but of concord and love, and therefore 
it cannot be made coercively binding upon men. 
The principle of non-resistance to evil by 
violence, which consists in the substitution of 
persuasion for brute force, can be only accepted 
voluntarily, and in whatever measure it is 
freely accepted by men and applied to life — i.e., 
according to the measure in which people re- 
nounce violence and establish their relations 
upon rational persuasion — only in that measure 
is true progress in the life of men accomplished. 

Therefore, whether men desire it or not, it is 
only in the name of this principle that they can 
free themselves from the enslavement and 
oppression of each other. Whether men desire 



xii. 



INTRODUCTION. 



it or not, this principle lies at the basis of all 
true improvement in the life of men which has 
taken place and is still to take place. 

Garrison was the first to proclaim this prin- 
ciple as a rule for the organisation of the life 
of men. In this is his great merit. If at the 
time he did not attain the pacific liberation of 
the slaves in America, he indicated the way of 
liberating men in general from the power of 
brute force. 

Therefore Garrison will for ever remain one 
of the greatest reformers and promoters of true 
human progress. 

I think that the publication of this short 
biography will be useful to many. 

Yasnaya Poly ana, January, 1904. 



COMPILERS' PREFACE. 



Were it possible to conceive of any cause 
justifying the use of violence, surely the 
abolition of slavery, as it existed in America 
seventy years ago, would constitute such a 
cause. When, therefore, we find the greatest 
champion of emancipation adhering 5 through- 
out life to non-resistance principles of the most 
comprehensive kind — and that, in the face of im- 
prisonment, mob violence and almost certain 
death, we feel that the life and thoughts of such 
a man must necessarily be of interest to all 
friends of Peace. 

Under this impression we propose, for the 
benefit of such as are debarred a more extensive 
study of his character and work, to give a 
brief outline of the life and views of William 
Lloyd Garrison, the champion of Liberty and 
lover of mankind. 

Any who may find their appetite stimulated 
rather than satisfied by the perusal of these 
pages are referred to " The Life and Times of 
William Lloyd Garrison," by his children, 
who have generously allowed us to quote 
from it without restriction — a permission 
of which, as the reader will see, we have 
amply availed ourselves. * 

The original biography is, in our opinion, 
one of the greatest works of the kind, 



* All portions of our work included in quotation marks represent 
extracts from the book as published by Messrs, Fisher Unwin, 



xiv. 



compilers' preface. 



and chronicles, perhaps, the most important 
epoch in the history of the American nation. 

Consisting as it does of four large volumes, 
furnished with numerous portraits, not of 
Garrison only, but also of many of the 
remarkable public men and women of his 
time — the publication is necessarily expensive. 
Those who may not have the means of pur- 
chasing it, would do well in requesting the 
public libraries in their neighbourhood to 
procure it. 

In reference to the present little compilation, 
we can only regret that the desire to render it 
accessible to as large a circle of readers as 
possible has prevented our giving a more 
detailed account of one of the finest lives ever 
lived amongst men. 

Should the necessity of a new short life of 
Garrison be questioned, seeing that so many 
already exist — we need only mention that 
the peculiarity of our compilation lies in the 
fact that it has been prepared by persons 
in unreserved accord with Garrison's non- 
resistance principles, which have consequently 
here received the full emphasis they deserve 
and he himself laid upon them. 



Vladimir Tchertkoff and Florence Holah. 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



CHAPTER I 

William Lloyd Garrison was born in 1805, at 
Newburyport, Massachusetts. To this town his 
father, Abijah Garrison, a sailor by profession, 
had but recently migrated from Nova Scotia, 
where his family, of English origin and Puritan 
principles, had been for some time settled. With 
him came Frances Lloyd, his wife, daughter of 
an Irish emigrant to the Province of Nova Scotia. 
Brought up in the beliefs of the Episcopal Church, 
she had early incurred the displeasure of her 
family by joining the despised sect of Baptists. 
Persecution, taking the form of banishment from 
her father's house, served only to strengthen her 
convictions ; and her younger son, who seems to 
have inherited his mother's religious disposition, 
for many years showed a marked preference for 
her peculiar faith. 

This second son, William Lloyd, was scarcely 
three years old when Abijah Garrison, although 
professing great affection for his wife and children, 
deserted them and returned to his native province. 

The young wife thus left alone to support her 
three children, made a brave effort to bring them 
up well ; but the necessity of earning a liveli- 



16 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



hood separated her for long periods from her family, 
and when Lloyd was about ten years old, she was 
obliged, finally, to leave Newburyport and settle 
at Baltimore. 

For seven years circumstances kept mother and 
son apart, until in 1823 Lloyd paid his mother a 
final visit, only a few weeks before her death. 
Notwithstanding this long separation, Fanny 
Garrison exercised considerable influence over her 
younger son, who ever preserved a warm and grate- 
ful remembrance of her. 

(The elder son, strongly attracted to his father's 
profession, had run away to sea ; and the only 
daughter died some months before her bereaved 
mother.) 

Thus, practically left an orphan while still a 
boy, William Lloyd was early thrown upon his 
own resources. After trying his hand at several 
occupations, he was finally apprenticed, at the 
age of thirteen, to the printing trade, entering 
the office of the Newburyport Herald, at the same 
time finding a home in the house of his master, the 
editor. Not only did he speedily win the love 
and esteem of all the inmates of his new home, 
but he soon became a most expert and rapid 
compositor. The extent to which he became 
master of his trade is evidenced by the fact that 
in later life many of his editorial articles were set 
up in type by himself without being previously 
committed to paper. 

During his apprenticeship in the Herald 
office, Garrison wrote his first newspaper article, 
sending it anonymously to the editor, and having 
the pleasure of himself setting it up in type. 
The success of his first attempt encouraged him 
to further efforts, and he became a frequent con- 
tributor, taking up the current political topics of 
the day with characteristic ardour. 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 17 



Before the term of his apprenticeship expired he 
was entrusted with the entire supervision of the 
printing office, and at times, during his master's 
absence, with the editorial management of the 
paper also. The experience thus gained was 
turned to good account, and within a few months 
of the expiration of his apprenticeship, in 1826, 
we find him editing and publishing a local news- 
paper, entitled The Free Press. 

The branch cf moral reform which first engaged 
Garrison's serious attention was the temperance 
cause. To this he devoted himself with energy 
and enthusiasm, and never to the day of his death 
did he cease to take a keen interest in the promo- 
tion of temperance. Even when engaged heart 
and soul in the great work of his life — the abolition 
of slavery, he said : 

" God is my witness that, great as is my detes- 
tation of slavery and the foreign slave trade, I had 
rather be a slave-holder — yea, a kidnapper on the 
African coast — than sell this poison to my fellow 
creatures for common consumption. Since the 
creation of the world there has been no tyrant 
like intemperance, and no slaves so cruelly treated 
as his " (vol. i., p. 268). 

After about six months the editorship of The 
Free Press was abandoned, and Garrison betook 
himself to Boston in search of employment. This 
change of locality brought him into contact with 
W. Collier, a Baptist city missionary, who had 
recently established the first periodical ever de- 
voted mainly to the cause of temperance. This 
paper, The National Philanthropist, soon passed 
into Garrison's hands. Although it had for its 
chief object the promotion of temperance, and took 
for its motto — " Moderate drinking is the downhill 
road to intemperance and drunkenness," the 
Philanthropist also discussed such subjects as 

b 



18 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



lotteries, imprisonment for debt, peace, the dese- 
cration of the Sabbath by Sunday mails, and 
travelling and infidelity. This latter subject 
excited the greatest abhorrence in the mind of the 
orthodox editor. 

" It is impossible/' he said, " to estimate the 
depravity and wickedness of those who at the 
present day reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ, when 
the proofs of its Divine origin have been accumula- 
ting for eighteen centuries, till the mass of evidence 
exceeds computation — when its blessed influence 
is penetrating the lands where thick darkness 
dwells, conquering the prejudices and customs 
and opinions of the people — and when it has 
acquired a grandeur of aspect and breadth of 
expansion, a vividness of glory and an increase of 
moral strength which stamps upon it the impress 
of Divinity in such legible characters that to doubt 
is impiety — to reject , the madness of folly " (vol. i. 
p. 84). 

Garrison's veneration for the Scriptures and also 
for the Sabbath is interesting in connection with 
his future mental and spiritual development. 
Already he had to admit the astonishing indiffer- 
ence of professing Christians to the subject of war. 

" They have been guilty," he declared, " of a 
neglect which no discouragement, no excuse, no 
inadequacy can justify. Why is it," he asked, 
" that by far the larger portion of the professed 
followers of the Lamb have maintained a careless, 
passive neutrality ? .... There are, in fact, 
few reasoning Christians ; the majority of them 
are swayed more by the usages of the world than 
by any definite perception of what constitutes 
duty — so far, we mean, as relates to the subjuga- 
tion of vices which are incorporated, as it were, 
into the existence of society ; else why is it that 
intemperance and slavery and war have ilot ere 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 19 



this in a measure been driven from our land ? Is 
there not Christian influence enough here, if 
properly concentrated, to accomplish these things ? 
Scepticism itself cannot be at a loss to answer 
this question " (vol. i., pp. 84, 85). 

Hitherto the cause of emancipation, soon to 
absorb so large a part of Garrison's life, had drawn 
from him but few expressions of interest. The 
Free Press had, it is true, contained some com- 
mendatory remarks on a poem entitled " Africa," 
an impassioned appeal on behalf of the slave ; and 
in an article on the Fourth of July we find the 
following words : — 

" There is one theme which should be dwelt 
upon till our whole country is free from the curse — 
it is slavery" (vol. i., p. 66) ; and again in the second 
number of the Philanthropist, edited by Garrison, 
he had commented on the passage of a bill by 
South Carolina to prohibit the instruction of 
negroes. " There is," he declared, " something 
unspeakably pitiable and alarming in the state of 
that society where it is deemed necessary, for self- 
preservation, to seal up the mind and debase the 
intellect of man to brutal incapacity. We shall 
not now consider the policy of this resolve, but it 
illustrates the terrors of slavery in a manner as 
eloquent and affecting as imagination can con- 
ceive. . . . Truly, the alternatives of oppression 
are terrible. But this state of things cannot 
always last, nor ignorance alone shield us from 
destruction" (vol. i. ? pp. 86, 87). 

But it was not until March, 1828, that a meeting 
occurred which led to the final dedication of his 
life to the cause of the slave. 

Benjamin Lundy, a Quaker from New Jersey, 
had already devoted thirteen years to this great 
cause. During a four years* residence in Virginia 
his soul was so stirred by his being constantly 



20 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



compelled to witness the horrors of the slave trade 
that he organised an anti-slavery society, called 
the " Union Humane Society," and wrote an 
appeal urging the formation of similar societies 
throughout the land. 

The first American periodical having for its 
avowed object the suppression of slavery had been 
established in 1820 by a friend named Elihu 
Embree, and on Embree's death in 1821, Lundy 
continued his work by the publication of a similar 
paper entitled The Genius of Universal Emancipa- 
tion. Not only did he learn the printers' trade 
that he might be able to print this — the only anti- 
si a very journal inthecountry — with his own hands, 
but he also took long journeys, often on foot, 
everywhere endeavouring to awaken men's minds 
to a conviction of the enormity of the slave system. 

One of these journeys brought him to Boston, 
where he met Garrison, who wrote of him in the 
following glowing terms : — 

" Every inch of him is alive with power. . . . No 
reformer was ever more devoted, zealous, perse- 
vering or sanguine. He has fought single handed 
against a host, without missing a blow or faltering 
a moment ; but his forces are rapidly gathering, 
and he will yet free our land. . . . Within a few 
months he has travelled about twenty-four hun- 
dred miles, of which upwards of sixteen hundred 
were performed on foot / — during which time he 
has held nearly fifty public meetings. Rivers and 
mountains vanish in his path ; midnight finds him 
wending his solitary way over an unfrequented 
road ; the sun is anticipated in his rising. Never 
was moral sublimity of character better 
illustrated " (vol. i., pp. 92, 93). 

Of a meeting of Boston clergymen, convened by 
Lundy Garrison wrote eleven years later, as 
follows : — 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 21 



" He might as well have urged the stones in the 
streets to cry out in behalf of the perishing cap- 
tives. Oh, the moral cowardice, the chilling apathy, 
the criminal unbelief, the cruel scepticism that 
were revealed on that occasion ! My soul was on 
fire then, as it is now, in view of such a develop- 
ment. Every soul in the room was heartily 
opposed to slavery ; but it would terribly alarm 
and enrage the South to know that an anti-slavery 
society existed in Boston ! But it would do 
harm rather than good openly to agitate the sub- 
ject ! But we had nothing to do with the ques- 
tion, and the less we meddled with it the better. 
But perhaps a select committee might be formed, 
to be called by some name that would neither give 
offence, nor excite suspicion as to its real design ! 
One or two only were for bold and decisive action ; 
but, as they had neither station nor influence, and 
did not rank among the wise and prudent, their 
opinions did not weigh very heavily, and the 
project was abandoned. Poor Lundy ! that meet- 
ing was a damper to his feelings ; but he was not 
a man to be utterly cast down, come what might. 
No one at the outset had bid him ' God-speed 1 
in his merciful endeavour to deliver his enslaved 
countrymen ; and he was inflexible to persevere 
even unto the end, though unassisted by any of 
those whose countenance he had a right to expect " 
(vol. L, pp. 93, 94). 

Lundy's visit to Boston was, however, not with- 
out result. The cause of the down-trodden slave 
had now taken such a hold upon the heart of the 
young editor of the Philanthropist that it was 
henceforth to be the chief interest of his life, — not, 
however, to the exclusion of other branches of 
reform — intemperance and war still claiming a 
large share of his attention. 

In July, 1828, Garrison resigned the editorship 



22 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



of the Philanthropist, and in the autumn of the 
same year was offered a six months' engagement as 
editor of a new political journal at Bennington, 
Vermont, to be entitled The Journal of the Times. 
This offer was accepted on condition that the 
editor should be at liberty to discuss, in addition to 
politics, various topics, such as morals, education, 
temperance, slavery, etc. 

The spirit in which this work was undertaken 
may be gathered from the following extract from 
Garrison's Salutatory : — 

" . . . Of all the despicable and degraded beings, 
a time serving, truckling editor has no parallel ; 
and he who has not courage enough to hunt down 
popular vices, to combat popular prejudices, to 
encounter the madness of party, to tell the truth 
and maintain the truth, cost what it may, to attack 
villainy in its higher walks and strip presumption 
of its vulgar garb, to meet the frowns of the enemy 
with the smiles of a friend, and the hazard of inde- 
pendence with the hope of reward, should be 
crushed at a blow if he dared to tamper with the 
interests or speculate upon the whims of the 
public " (vol. i., p. 103). 

The subject of slavery was at once enthusiasti- 
cally taken up in The Journal of the Times. In the 
first number the editor spoke of the " importance 
of petitioning Congress this session in conjunction 
with our Southern brethren for the abolition of 
slavery in the District of Columbia." He also 
suggested the formation of anti-slavery societies 
in all the important towns in the twelve Free States. 
Owing largely to Garrison's personal activity, a 
petition drawn up by himself and bearing 2,352 
signatures was presented to Congress. The ques- 
tion of emancipation was warmly discussed by 
some of the northern representatives, and resolu- 
tions were passed that a committee should inquire 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



into the subject ; but owing to the determined 
opposition of the South the matter was soon 
dropped, and Congress passed no more resolutions 
in favour of freedom in the District until after the 
secession of the South. 

On the expiration of his six months' engagement 
(in the spring of 1829), Garrison accepted a pressing 
invitation from Lundy to join him in the manage- 
ment of The Genius of Universal Emancipation, 
which he proposed to enlarge and publish weekly 
instead of monthly. 

During a short stay in Boston, on his way to 
join Lundy, Garrison was invited to deliver a 
Fourth of July address at Park Street Church, in 
the interests of the Colonisation Society. 

An unsuccessful attempt to prevent the delivery 
of this lecture by procuring a writ summoning the 
lecturer to appear at the police court, to account 
for his refusal to pay a fine for not appearing at a 
muster of the Militia Company, led to the following 
declaration of principles. It is especially interest- 
ing as showing the very decided non-resistant 
attitude taken by Garrison even at this early date. 

u I am not professedly a Quaker/' he wrote, 
" but I heartily, entirely and practically embrace 
the doctrine of non-resistance, and am conscien- 
tiously opposed to all military exhibitions. I now 
solemnly declare that I will never obey any order 
to bear arms, but rather cheerfully suffer imprison- 
ment and persecution. What is the design of 
militia musters ? To make men skilful murderers. 
I cannot consent to become a pupil in this sanguin- 
ary school " (vol. i., p. 125 note). 

With the help of a friend the lecturer was even- 
tually able to pay the fine, and so free himself to 
deliver the Fourth of July oration. 

After touching on such " national dangers " as 
infidelity, Sabbath breaking, intemperance and 



24 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



the corruption of the Press and party politics, the 
speaker took up the subject of slavery. Having 
graphically sketched the proceedings of a recent 
trial, he continued : — 

" I stand up here in a more solemn court, to 
assist in a far greater cause ; not to impeach the 
character of one man, but of a whole people ; not 
to recover the sum of a hundred thousand dollars, 
but to obtain the liberation of two millions of 
wretched, degraded beings, who are pining in hope- 
less bondage — over whose sufferings scarcely an 
eye weeps, or a heart melts, or a tongue pleads 
either to God or man. I regret that a better advo- 
cate has not been found to enchain your attention 
and to warm your blood. Whatever fallacy, how- 
ever, may appear in the argument, there is no flaw 
in the indictment ; what the speaker lacks the 
cause will supply " (vol. i., p. 129). 

And again : " Every Fourth of July, our Declar- 
ation of Independence is produced, with a sublime 
indignation, to set forth the tyranny of the Mother 
Country and to challenge the admiration of the 
world. But what a pitiful detail of grievances does 
this document present in comparison with the 
wrongs which our slaves endure ! In the one case, 
it is hardly the plucking of a hair from the head ; 
in the other, it is the crushing of a live body on the 
wheel — the stings of the wasp contrasted with the 
tortures of the Inquisition. Before God I must 
say that such a glaring contradiction as exists 
between our creed and practice the annals of six 
thousand years cannot parallel. In view of it, I 
am ashamed of my country. I am sick of our un- 
meaning declaration in praise of liberty and 
equality ; of our hypocritical cant about the 
unalienable rights of man. I could not for my 
right handstand up before a European assembly 
and exult that I am an American citizen, and de- 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



nounce the usurpations of a kingly government as 
wicked and unjust ; or, should I make the attempt, 
the recollection of my country's barbarity and 
despotism would blister my lips and cover my 
cheeks with burning blushes of shame .... 

" If any man believes that slavery can be abol- 
ished without a struggle with the worst passions of 
human nature, quietly, harmoniously, he cherishes 
a delusion. It can never be done unless the age of 
miracles return. No ; we must expect a collision, 
full of sharp asperities and bitterness. We shall 
have to contend with the insolence and pride and 
selfishness of many a heartless being. But these 
can be easily conquered by meekness and persever- 
ance and prayer. 

" Sirs, the prejudices of the North are stronger 
than those of the South ; — they bristle like so many 
bayonets around the slaves ; — they forge and 
rivet the chains of the nation. Conquer them and 
the victory is won. The enemies of emancipation 
take courage from our criminal timidity. They 
have justly stigmatised us even on the floor of 
Congress, with the most contemptuous epithets. 
We are (they say) their 1 white slaves,' afraid of our 
own shadows, who have been driven back to the 
wall again and again ; who stand trembling under 
their whips ; who turn pale, retreat and surrender, 
at a talismanic threat to dissolve the LInion. 

" It is otten despondingly said that the evil of 
slavery is beyond our control. Dreadful conclu- 
sion, that puts the seal of death upon our country's 
existence ! . . . Let us take courage . Moral 
influence, when in vigorous exercise, is irresistible. 
It has an immortal essence. It can no more be 
trod out of existence by the iron foot of time, or by 
the ponderous march of iniquity, than matter can 
be annihilated. It may disappear for a time ; but 
it lives in some shape or other, in some place or 



26 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



other, and will rise with renovated strength. Let 
us then be up and doing. In the simple and stir- 
ring language of the stout-hearted Lundy, ' all the 
friends of the cause must go to work, keep to 
work, hold on, and never give up ' " (vol. i., pp. 
131, 132, 134, 135). 

The oration concluded with an impassioned 
appeal to all sections of the community, including 
the clergy. 

" I call upon the Churches of the living God to 
lead in this great enterprise. If the soul be im- 
mortal, priceless, save it from remediless woe. 
Let them combine their energies, and systematise 
their plans, for the rescue of suffering humanity. 
Let them pour out their supplications to Heaven 
in behalf of the slave. Prayer is omnipotent : its 
breath can melt adamantine rocks — its touch can 
break the stoutest chains. Let anti-slavery 
charity-boxes stand uppermost among those for 
missionary, tract and educational purposes. On 
this subject Christians have been asleep ; let them 
shake off their slumbers, and arm for the holy 
contest " (vol. i., p. 136). 

Experience had not yet taught the youthful 
reformer the uselessness of appealing to the 
Churches. He had yet to learn that " Ministers of 
the Gospel " are among the most powerful oppon- 
ents of the sacred cause of liberty. 

On two points raised in this address, Garrison's 
views were destined soon to be completely changed : 
the usefulness and sincerity of the Colonisation 
Society — a Society having for its aim the deporta- 
tion of all liberated negroes and their settlement 
in Liberia, — and the desirability of immediate 
emancipation. On the Fourth of July, Garrison 
had said : — 

" I acknowledge that immediate and complete 
emancipation is not desirable. No rational man 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



cherishes so wild a dream." " But, when he came 
to reflect upon the matter, he saw that his feet were 
on the sand and not on the solid rock so long as he 
granted slavery the right to exist for a single mo- 
ment ; that if human beings could be justly held 
in bondage one hour, they could be for days and 
weeks and years, and so on indefinitely from 
generation to generation, and that the only way to 
deal with the system was to lay the axe at the root 
of the tree, and demand immediate and uncon- 
ditional emancipation " (vol. i., p. 140). * 

Having come to this conclusion, he was under 
the necessity of informing his proposed partner, 
Lundy, of his change of views. The latter, al- 
though still holding that the slaves were not 
ready for immediate and unconditional liberty, 
readily agreed to carry out their original plan of 
joint editorship, on the condition that each should 
sign his own articles, and " bear his own burden." 
It was arranged that Garrison should act as resi- 
dent editor, while Lundy w r ent forth to lecture and 
canvas for subscribers. On these terms they started 
their joint venture in September, 1829. 

Benjamin Lundy, although he took no interest 
in the settlement of Liberia, and distrusted some- 
what the , Colonisation Society, was strongly in 
favour of establishing colonies of free coloured 
people in Hayti, Canada, etc. 

He, himself, paid several visits to Hayti, and 
published, in the Genius, the results of his obser- 
vation of the country, and discussed the prospects 
of success. 

Garrison felt a growing distrust of the Colonisa- 
tion Society, coming by degrees to realise that it 



* Note. Elizabeth Heyrick, an Englishwoman, was the 
first to advocate in a pamphlet published in 1825, immediate 
emancipation. 



28 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



was, in fact, a tool in the hands of the Slave Power, 
by which they sought to get rid of the dreaded 
free coloured population, while figuring before the 
world as benefactors of the negro. 

He was also opposed to any compensation of 
slave-holders. In reply to the inquiry of a coloni- 
sationist — " Who can doubt that it might be the 
soundest policy to extinguish the masters' claim 
throughout our territory at the price of six hun- 
dred millions of dollars ? " he said : — 

" We unhesitatingly doubt it, in a moral point 
of view. It would be paying a thief for giving up 
stolen property, and acknowledging that his crime 
was not a crime. ... No ; let us not talk of 
buying the slaves — justice demands their libera- 
tion. " To the same writer, who had spoken of the 
" delicate subject " of slavery, he replied : — 

" In correcting public vices and aggravated 
crimes, delicacy is not to be consulted. Slavery 
is a monster, and he must be treated as such — 
hunted down bravely, and despatched at a blow " 
(vol. i., pp. 151, 152). 

A " Free Produce Society/' established by 
Friends for the purpose of discouraging slave labour 
called for favourable comment in the Genius. 
This movement did not, however, make much way 
in America — less, indeed, than in England, where 
300,000 persons are said to have abandoned the 
use of sugar, rather than enjoy the fruits of slave 
labour. 

In answer to those who declared that the slaves, 
if freed, would cut the throats of their late oppres- 
sors, Garrison said : — 

<4 Is it worth while to reason with such men ? 
Need they be told that if fire be quenched, it cannot 
burn — if the fangs of the rattlesnake be drawn, he 
cannot be dangerous — if seed be annihilated, it 
cannot germinate ? ... If we liberate the slaves, 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



29 



and treat them as brothers, and as men, shall we 
not take away all motive for rebellion ? " (vol. i., p. 
158). The result of the immediate emancipation 
of 10,000 slaves by the Mexican President Guerrero 
bore out the truth of these remarks. 

A department of The Genius, termed the 
Black List, recorded every week, incidents of 
cruelty connected with the slave trade, domestic 
and foreign. Although now forbidden by law, 
the foreign trade was still actively carried on ; 
while the home trade, less dangerous and more 
profitable, was prosecuted to an appalling extent. 
Some of the Southern states had, indeed, the more 
readily consented to the bill declaring the foreign 
trade illegal, because they foresaw the increased 
gain thus to be obtained by breeding slaves for the 
market — to replace the countless victims of cruelty, 
hardship and the deadly climate of the Gulf states. 
As many as 50,000 slaves were yearly transported 
from one state to another. Much of this human 
freight was shipped from Baltimore, and Garrison 
was thus constantly compelled to witness the 
horrible sufferings inflicted on these his fellow 
creatures. 

When, at length, he discovered that one of his 
own townsmen — a citizen of Newburyport — was 
engaged in this inhuman traffic, his indignation 
blazed forth, and the shipowner, Francis Todd, 
w r as held up to public execration in the Black List. 
After briefly stating the facts of the case, the editor 
pointed out the inconsistency of allowing the home 
trade, while the foreign trade was regarded as 
illegal : — 

" I know," he said, " that the man who is allowed 
to freight his vessel with slaves at home for a dis- 
tant market, would be thought worthy of death, 
if he should take a similar freight on the coast of 
Africa ; but I know, too, that this distinction is 



30 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



absurd, and at war with the common sense of 
mankind, and that God and good men regard it 
with abhorrence " (vol. i., p. 166). 

This direct attack upon " New England princi- 
ple " was not allowed to pass unnoticed — an action 
for libel was promptly instituted. Although ably 
and eloquently defended by Charles Mitchell, one 
of the most brilliant members of the Boston Bar — 
who, although a stranger to Garrison, offered his 
services gratuitously for the defence — Garrison was 
found guilty, and fined fifty dollars and costs. 
Being wholly unable to raise so large a sum (over 
ioo dollars), he was compelled to submit to seven 
weeks imprisonment in Baltimore jail. 

Not even in prison was Garrison inactive. His 
sympathy which — to use an expression of his own 
when speaking of Christian charity — was " re- 
stricted only by the exact number of God's suffering 
creatures " (vol. i., p. 130), was, at once, drawn 
out by the partners of his captivity. Being allowed 
a certain amount of liberty within the jail, he made 
the acquaintance of many of these unfortunates, 
inquired into their cases and, in more than one 
instance, was successful in procuring their release. 
He was also still able to plead the cause of the 
slave, sometimes with the very owners and traders 
themselves, who frequently visited the jail to 
reclaim, or to buy runaway slaves, — and very 
faithfully he dealt with such men. 

The first task to which Garrison addressed him- 
self during his imprisonment was, however, the 
writing of a pamphlet entitled " A brief sketch of 
the trial of William Lloyd Garrison, for an alleged 
libel on Francis Todd, of Massachusetts/ ' The 
concluding words of this pamphlet are especially 
worthy of notice : — 

" As for the law (if it be law) which has con- 
victed me, I regard it as a burlesque upon the 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



3i 



constitution — as pitiful as it is abhorrent and 
atrocious. It affords a fresh illustration of the 
sentiment of an able writer, that of all injustice, 
that is the greatest which goes under the name of 
law ; and of all sorts of tyranny, the forcing of the 
letter of the law against the equity is the most 
insupportable. Is it supposed by Judge Brice that 
his frowns can intimidate me, or his sentence 
stifle my voice, on the subject of African oppres- 
sion ? He does not know me. So long as a good 
Providence gives me strength and intellect, I will 
not cease to declare that the existence of slavery 
in this country is a foul reproach to the American 
name ; nor will I hesitate to proclaim the guilt of 
kidnappers, slave abettors, or slave-owners, where- 
soever they may reside, or however high the) 7 may 
be exalted. I am only in the alphabet of my task ; 
time shall perfect a useful work. ... A few white 
victims must be sacrificed to open the eyes of this 
nation, and to show the tyranny of our laws. I 
expect, and am willing to be persecuted, imprisoned 
and bound, for advocating African rights ; and I 
should deserve to be a slave myself, if I shrank 
from that duty or danger " (vol. i., pp. 177, 178). 

This period of enforced leisure also furnished an 
opportunity for indulging in his favourite occupa- 
tion of writing verses. Three sonnets — on " Sleep/ ' 
" Freedom of the Mind," and " The Guiltless 
Prisoner," bear witness to the lightness of heart 
with which the captive bore his captivity. 

The imprisonment of the editor of The Genius 
excited widespread interest, not only among the 
advocates of emancipation, but also among those 
interested in the freedom of speech and of the 
press ; more than 100 newspaper editors de- 
nounced this attempt to interfere with their much 
cherished liberty. To one editor. Garrison's old 
master, Mr. Allen, of Newburyport, who, while 



32 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



defending the character and motives of his former 
apprentice, pleaded for the guilty trader, Garrison 
replied at some length. We must, however, con- 
tent ourselves with two brief extracts :— 

" Moreover what if the times were hard, freights 
dull and money scarce — was he (Francis Todd) in 
danger of starvation ? And, if so, how much 
nobler would have been his conduct, if he had 
adopted the language of the martyred patriot of 
England — the great Algernon Sidney !— ' I have 
ever had in my mind, that when God should cast 
me into such a condition as that I cannot save my 
life but by doing an indecent thing, He shows me 
the time has come wherein I should resign it ; and 
when I cannot live in my own country but by such 
means as are worse than dying in it, I think He 
shows me I ought to keep myself out of it 1 " 
(vol. i., p. 187). 

" Everyone who comes into the world should do 
something to repair its moral desolation, and to 
restore its pristine loveliness ; and he who does 
not assist, but slumbers away his life in idleness, 
defeats one great purpose of his creation " (vol. i., 
pp. 188, 189). 

Garrison's pamphlet concerning the trial gained 
for the writer more than one friend whose pecu- 
niary aid proved of great value, both now and at a 
later period. Arthur Tappan wrote, offering 100 
dollars to purchase the prisoner's liberty, and 
another 100 dollars to help in re-establishing The 
Genius, which after a six months' trial in its en- 
larged form, had now resumed its former dimen- 
sions, —the partnership of Lundy and Garrison 
being dissolved. A gift of 100 dollars from E. 
Dole, another stranger, also came very oppor- 
tunely, as the released prisoner was without home 
or means of livelihood. 



CHAPTER II 



Finding that it would be useless to attempt a 
renewal of the partnership with Lundy, Garrison 
now decided to start a paper of his own. Accord- 
ingly, in August, 1830, he set forth in a prospectus 
" Proposals for publishing a weekly periodical in 
Washington City, to be entitled The Public Libera- 
tor and Journal of the Times" The primary object 
of the publication was to be the abolition of slavery, 
but other moral and social evils were not to be 
overlooked. " The cause of peace and the promo- 
tion of temperance, " he wrote, " being equally 
dear to my heart, will obtain my zealous and 
unequivocal support. My creed, as already pub- 
lished to the world, is as follows : — That war is 
fruitful in crime, misery, revenge, murder and 
everything abominable and bloody — and, whether 
offensive or defensive, contrary to the precepts and 
example of Jesus Christ, and to the heavenly 
spirit of the Gospel ; consequently, that no pro- 
fessor of Christianity should march to the battle- 
field or murder any of his brethren for the glory 
of his country*: — That intemperance is a filthy 

* In this connection we niay note that Garrison "had 
scruples over and above the prior claims of the slaves, against 
publishing an appeal to raise money in aid of the revolted 
Poles. Ours is the patriotism of Jesus Christ, not of this 
world. We justify no war. The victories of liberty should 
be bloodless and effected solely by spiritual weapons. If we 
deemed it pleasing in the sight of God to kill tyrants we 
would immediately put ourselves at the head of a black army 
at the South, and scatter devastation and death on every 
side" (vol. i., p. 269). 

C 



34 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



habit and an awful scourge, wholly produced by 
the moderate, occasional and fashionable use of 
alcoholic liquors ; consequently, that it is sinful 
to distil, import, to sell, to drink or to offer such 
liquors to our friends or labourers, and that entire 
abstinence is the duty of every individual" (vol. 
i., p. 201). 

Three addresses on Slavery and Colonisation, 
written during his imprisonment, were delivered 
in Philadelphia, New York and subsequently in 
Boston. In Philadelphia many friends, already 
interested in the cause, gathered around the lec- 
turer, and the Boston address was memorable as 
the occasion of Garrison's meeting with several 
influential men, whose services in the cause proved 
second only to his own. Besides J. Tappan, S. 
May — a Unitarian minister, and S. E. Sewall were 
present. S. May, who has described the event, 
thus expresses the effect produced upon 
himself : — 

" Never before was I so affected by the speech 
of man. When he had ceased speaking, I said to 
those around me : ' That is a providential man ; 
he is a prophet ; he will shake our nation to its 
centre, but he will shake slavery out of it. We 
ought to know him, we ought to help him. Come, 
let us go and give him our hands " (vol. i., p. 214). 

This lecture was delivered in Julien Hall, offered, 
in reply to Garrison's advertised request for the 
use of a hall, by a Society of Infidels. All other 
doors were closed against the apostle of liberty ! 
Garrison had already spoken of the absolute 
necessity for the church making a decided stand 
against slavery. — 

" It must not support ; it must not palliate the 
horrid system. It seems morally impossible that 
a man can be a slave-holder and a follower of the 
Lamb at the same time. A Christian Slave-holder 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 35 



is as great a solecism as a religious atheist, a sober 
drunkard or an honest thief " (vol. L, p. 206). 

Now he had to acknowledge, with shame, his 
indebtedness to the very sect he had but lately 
scathingly denounced ; nevertheless he still clung 
to the belief that " slavery could be abolished only 
through the power of the gospel and of the Chris- 
tian religion/' 

The friendship and advice of May and Sewall 
were invaluable to Garrison in his new undertaking, 
but the difficulties in the way of issuing a weekly 
journal, — without office, press, type or money — 
would have daunted a less enthusiastic reformer. 
Not so Garrison— he decided, with the help of 
Isaac Knapp (a fellow apprentice in Mr. Allen's 
office at Newburyport, and now a penniless printer 
like himself), to publish at least one number of the 
proposed paper. 

Accordingly, in January, 1831, there appeared 
the first number of the Liberator, having for its 
motto : " Our country is the world — our country- 
men are mankind." 

(Three numbers were printed with type lent for 
the purpose by S. Foster, another young printer, 
after which some old type was picked up at a 
foundry and turned to account). 

In the printing and publishing office, a dreary 
third story room, scantily furnished, the partners, 
Isaac Knapp and W. L. Garrison lived. 

" Many a time in visiting their office," says 
Oliver Johnson, " did I find them partaking of 
their humble repast, which they seasoned with 
laughter, song, and cheerful talk. A friendly cat 
cheered their loneliness and protected them from 
the depredations of mice. Mr. Garrison was fond 
of his feline companion, and I remember seeing 
her more than once mounted upon his writing- 
table, and caressing his bald forehead in a most 



36 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



affectionate way, while he was spinning editorial 
yarn "* (vol. ii., p. 221). 

Another witness writes : " I was often at the 
office of the Liberator ... I knew of his (Mr. 
Garrison's) self-denials. I knew he slept in the 
office with a table for a bed, a book for a pillow 
and a self-prepared scanty meal for his rations in 
the office, while he set up his articles in the Libera- 
tor with his own hand, and without previous com- 
mittal to paper " (vol. i., 221, note). 

Living thus for some eighteen months, " per- 
forming fourteen hours of manual labour, inde- 
pendently of mental toil," working far into the 
night, did the indefatigable publishers fulfil their 
promise to the public — " to print the paper as long 
as they could subsist on bread and water, or their 
hands obtain employment. 99 

In vain were abuse, threats of assassination, and 
even the friendly criticisms of earnest supporters 
directed against the devoted editor, in the hope 
of silencing or softening the language of this 
" incendiary " paper. 



* The love of animals was a marked characteristic of 
Garrison's ; he had a great fondness for pet animals, 
especially cats, who instinctively recognised him as their 
friend, and would come and jump into his lap at first sight 
and without invitation. From earliest boyhood he had one 
or more pussies, and his first great sorrow was being 
compelled to drown an old favourite whose days of usefulness 
were considered past. He never forgot the agony of that 
experience. A pleasanter remembrance was of the 
demonstrations of delight with which another pet cat greeted 
him, on his return home after a considerable absence. A 
little while after the boy had gone to bed he was awakened 
by the rubbing of soft fur against his face, and found that 
puss had brought her latest litter of kittens, born while be 
was away, and had deposited them, one by one, about his 
head. "My eyes moistened when I realised what she had 
done," he says, " and we all slept in one bed that night" 
(vol. i.,p. 30). 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 37 



" I am aware/' wrote Garrison in the first num- 
ber of the Liberator, " that many object to the 
severity of my language ; but is there not cause 
for severity ? I will be as harsh as truth, and as 
uncompromising as justice. On this subject I do 
not wish to think, or speak, or write with modera- 
tion. No ! No ! Tell a man whose house is on fire 
to give a moderate alarm ; tell him to moderately 
rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher ; 
tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe 
from the fire into which it has fallen ; — but urge 
me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. 
I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not 
excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — and / will 
be heard. The apathy of the people is enough to 
make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to 
hasten the resurrection of the dead " (vol. i., p. 
225). m 

An insurrection of negroes in Virginia, for which 
Garrison was held to be largely responsible, raised 
the terror and hostility of the South to fever heat, 
nor was the feeling of the North much more 
friendly. ' 'Respectable " Boston papers began 
to invoke mob-violence, and the South was loud 
in its demands that the paper should be imme- 
diately suppressed. Through all this storm of 
hatred and abuse, the steadfast editor went calmly 
on his way, mitigating in no degree the severity of 
the language in which he denounced slavery, but, 
at the same time, breathing nothing but kindness 
for the upholders of this terrible national crime, 
who were thirsting for his blood. 

•■ As for the planters/' he wrote, " I would not 
wittingly harm a hair of their heads, nor injure 
them in their lawful property. I am not their 
enemy, but their friend. It is true, I abhor 
their oppressive acts ; nof will I cease to denounce 
them in terms of indignation. They will surely 



38 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



be destroyed if they do not repent. Men must 
be free " (vol. i., p. 237). 

To his coloured friends he wrote at this time : — 

" Foes are on my right hand and my left. The 
tongue of detraction is busy against me. I have 
no communion with the world, the world none 
with me. The timid, the lukewarm, the base, 
affect to believe that my brains are disordered, and 
my words the ravings of a maniac. Even many 
of my friends — they who have grown up with me 
from my childhood — are transformed into scoffers 
and enemies " (vol. i., p. 235). 

A resolution introduced in the State Senate of 
Georgia that a sum of 1000 dollars be offered for 
the arrest and conviction of the editor of the 
Liberator called forth the following : — 

" Scarcely has a proposition of so monstrous a 
nature ever been submitted to any public body 
in any country. Yet, we presume, so indifferent 
or servile are nineteen-twentieths of the news- 
papers that it will elicit scarcely a single editorial 
rebuke. Of one thing we are sure : all Southern 
threats and rewards will be insufficient to deter 
us from pursuing the work of emancipation. As 
citizens of the United States, we know our rights, 
and dare maintain them. We have committed 
no crime, but are expending our health, comfort 
and means for the salvation of our country, and 
for the interest and security of infatuated slave- 
holders, as well as for the relief of the poor slaves, 
We are not the enemies of the South because we 
tell her the truth " (vol. i., p. 248). 

Far from instigating the negroes to insurrec- 
tion, Garrison constantly used his influence, 
naturally great, not only to arouse and 
strengthen in the free blacks a desire for 
self-improvement, but also to foster that wonderful 
patience and long-suffering which formed 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 39 



such a marked feature of their character and con- 
duct. To obtain the peaceful recognition of their 
rights, he told them, they should respect them- 
selves, for their good example must break many 
fetters : their temperance, industry, peaceablenes 
and piety would prove the safety of emancipation. 
They should be better than white men — not a 
difficult task. They should put their children to 
school and get as much education as possible 
themselves. They should form societies for moral 
improvement, and " let the women have theirs — 
no cause can get along without the powerful aid of 
women's influence " (vol. i., p. 255). 

The negroes, in turn, supported their champion 
in every possible way, subscribing and also con- 
tributing largely to the Liberator. 

In January, 1832, was formed the New England 
Anti-Slavery Society, the first society instituted 
in accordance with the views expressed in the 
Liberator. The members — twelve in number — 
after declaring their conviction that " man cannot 
consistently with reason, religion and the eternal 
and immutable principles of justice, be the property 
of man/' stated that : — 

" The object of the Society shall be to endeavour, 
by all means sanctioned by law, humanity and 
religion, to effect the abolition of slavery in the 
United States, to improve the character and con- 
dition of the free people of colour, to inform and 
correct public opinion in relation to their situation 
and rights, and obtain for them equal civil and 
political rights and privileges with the whites" 
(vol. i., p. 281). 

Meetings were held, addresses given, and the 
adherents of the abolition cause multiplied apace. 

This increase of numbers brought with it, how- 
ever, its inevitable difficulties : differences of 
opinion, both as to the expediency of immediate 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



emancipation, and also as to the work of the 
Colonisation Society. 

On the latter subject Garrison published, in 
1832, a pamphlet, entitled " Thoughts on African 
Colonisation,' ' in which he set forth, at length, the 
aims of the Society, together with his reasons for 
regarding its work as prejudicial to the cause of 
emancipation. He pointed out that the Society 
was in reality the apologist of slavery and slave- 
holders, that it recognised property in slaves, and, 
in fact, increased their money value, that fear and 
selfishness were its chief incentives and that it 
deluded, and quieted the consciences of many who 
would otherwise have helped forward the cause of 
emancipation. These statements were supported 
by extracts from the reports of the Society's own 
organ, The African Repository, and the speeches 
and writings of its supporters. Garrison also took 
occasion to defend the character of the free coloured 
population of the North, and to protest vehe- 
mently against the Society's " un-republican and 
un-Christian sentiments" as to the impossibility of 
elevating the blacks in their native country — 
America. 

To convince the North that they, by their 
silence, were implicating themselves in the sin of 
slavery was indeed a hard task. Slavish attach- 
ment to the Union made even those who really 
disapproved of the slave system fear to raise their 
voices against this national iniquity. Garrison 
was already beginning to feel that disunion might 
be the inevitable result of the Southern obstinacy, 
and he was the more willing to face this possibility, 
because he believed that it was by the support of 
the North that the continued existence of the slave 
power was rendered possible. He believed, how- 
ever, that the act of disunion would proceed from 
the North — the South, he thought, would cling to 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 41 



the Union as her best and only means of support. 
In 1831, he had written : — 

" In process of time, one thing is certain : they 
must either give up their slaves or the Union. The 
people of the free States are weary of the load of 
guilt which is imposed upon them by the compact." 
And again : " If the bodies and souls of millions of 
rational beings must be sacrificed as the price of the 
union, better, far better, that a separation should 
take place " (vol. i., p. 265). 

In 1832, he wrote : " It is said that, if you agitate 
the question, you will divide the Union. Believe 
it not ; but should disunion follow, the fault will 
not be yours. You must perform your duty, 
faithfully, fearlessly and promptly, and leave the 
consequence to God ; that duty clearly is, to 
cease from giving countenance and protection to 
Southern kidnappers. Let them separate, if they 
can muster courage enough — and the liberation of 
their slaves is certain. Be assured that slavery 
will very speedily destroy this Union if it be let 
alone " (vol. i., p. 308). " So long as we continue 
one body — a union — a nation — the compact in- 
volves us in the guilt and danger of slavery. . . . 
What protects the South from instant destruction ? 
Our physical force. Break the chain that binds 
her to the Union, and the scenes of St. Domingo 
would be witnessed throughout her borders. She 
may affect to laugh at this prophecy ; but she 
knows that her security lies in Northern bayonets " 
(vol. L, p. 309). 

Truly in harmony with colonisation principles — 
" one of the genuine flowers of the colonisation 
garden," as Garrison expressed it — was the treat- 
ment meted out, by the citizens of Canterbury, 
in the " free " North, to the brave young Quakeress, 
Prudence Crandall. 

In January, 1833, Garrison received a letter from 



42 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



a lady schoolmistress — with whom he had had no 
previous acquaintance — asking his advice. It 
appeared that the chance reading of a number of 
the Liberator had so aroused her latent sympathy 
with the coloured race that, on the request of a 
respectable coloured girl to be admitted into her 
school, she had gladly received her. She was, 
however, speedily informed that, if the girl were 
allowed to remain, her school would no longer 
receive the support of the townspeople. Prudence 
Crandall replied that " it might sink then, for she 
would not turn her out. M Upon this many of the 
white girls were removed, and Miss Crandall then 
decided that in future she would receive only 
coloured girls, if a sufficient number could be 
obtained. 

The change was accordingly made, but the in- 
habitants of Canterbury could not quietly submit 
to such a disgrace being brought upon their town. 
Although professing real regard for the coloured 
people, they preferred that they should be educated 
elsewhere, and, finding Prudence Crandall deter- 
mined to stand firm, a series of persecutions com- 
menced, which lasted for nearly two years : — 

" The school was opened in April ; attempts 
were immediately made under the law to frighten 
the pupils away and to fine Miss Crandall for 
harboring them ; in May, an act prohibiting 
private schools for non-resident coloured persons, 
and providing for the expulsion of the latter, was 
procured from the Legislature, amid the greatest 
rejoicing in Canterbury (even to the ringing of the 
church bells) ; under this act, Miss Crandall was, 
in June, arrested and temporarily imprisoned in 
the county jail, twice tried and convicted ; her case 
was carried up to the Supreme Court of Errors, 
and her persecutors defeated on a technicality, and, 
pending this litigation, the most vindictive and 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



inhuman measures were taken to isolate the school 
from the countenance, and even the physical sup- 
port of the townspeople. The shops and the 
meeting-house were closed against teacher and 
pupils ; carriage in public conveyances was denied 
them ; physicians would not wait upon them ; 
Miss Crandall's own family and friends were for- 
bidden under penalty of heavy fines to visit her ; 
the well was filled with manure, and water from 
other sources refused ; the house itself was smeared 
with filth, assailed with rotten eggs and stones, 
and finally set on fire " (vol. i., p. 321). 

We can well imagine with what burning words 
the editor of the Liberator would comment on such 
proceedings as these. So severe was his censure 
that many of his friends, including Prudence 
Crandall herself, remonstrated with the indignant 
editor. 

Elliot Cresson, the representative of the American 
Colonisation Society, had, for some time past, been 
busily engaged in seeking support for his Society 
among the English emancipationists. In order to 
effect his purpose he had represented the Society as 
having for its object the liberation and emigration 
of slaves, and so effectually had he conveyed the 
impression that one of their aims was emancipation, 
that even Clarkson had expressed sympathy with 
the work of the Society. 

To counteract the evil effects of this misrepre- 
sentation, it was now thought desirable that a re- 
presentative of the true emancipationists of 
America should visit the Mother Country. It was 
according]}/ decided to combine this object with 
that of seeking funds for the founding of a " Man- 
ual Labour School " for free blacks, and the author 
of the " Thoughts on Colonisation " was chosen 
as the most suitable person to accomplish the 
double mission. 



44 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



A desperate attempt on the part of the Colonisa- 
tion Society to get Garrison arrested, as he was 
embarking at New York, was frustrated by the 
vigilance of his friends, and he sailed for Liverpool 
on May 2nd, 1833. 

Reaching England within the month, he was 
present in London to witness the closing scenes of 
the emancipation struggle in England. About 
sixty delegates from the various anti-slavery 
societies throughout the country were assembled 
in London, meeting daily to discuss plans for 
bringing about the abolition of slavery in the West 
Indies. To this company, Garrison was promptly 
introduced, and naturally received a warm wel- 
come. Most of the delegates belonged to the 
Society of Friends, and their guest was struck by 
the fact that while the English Quakers were the 
most earnest pioneers of the anti-slavery move- 
ment, their American co-religionists were so far 
infected by the cruel and inhuman prejudices of 
their fellow countrymen as to have lost, for the 
most part, their primitive spirit of liberty and 
justice. 

A challenge, addressed to Elliot Cresson, then 
in London, inviting him to a public debate, failed 
in its object, so a public meeting was held, at which 
Garrison disclosed the conduct and aims of the 
Colonisation Society, together with the deception 
practised on Clarkson, Wilberforce and other 
English emancipationists. In the course of his 
speech, he referred to the fact that, only a few 
days before, Sir Robert Peel, in opposing the Eman- 
cipation Bill in the House of Commons, had cited 
the work of the Colonisation Society as proof that 
emancipation was a curse to the black population, 
since it necessitated their removal from the land 
of their birth ! 

After clearing the minds of English emanci- 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 45 



pationists of the false impressions produced by the 
misrepresentations of Cresson and his Society, 
Garrison next proceeded to Bath for the purpose 
of visiting William Wilberforce. He was accom- 
panied on this journey by George Thompson, a 
prominent English emancipationist, with whom he 
had already formed what was to prove a life-long 
friendship of the most intimate kind. 

Two interviews with the venerable champion of 
the enslaved negroes resulted in the complete 
disillusioning of his mind with regard to the con- 
duct of the Colonisation Society, and Garrison 
had the satisfaction of taking back to America the 
original of a " Protest against British Support of 
the American Colonisation Society/' signed by 
the leaders of the abolition movement in England. 

The signature of this " Protest " proved to be 
almost the last act in the cause of liberty of its 
great champion Wilberforce, his death following 
about ten days later. 

T. Clarkson, who, owing to his blindness, was 
obliged to take much on trust, was another victim 
of Cresson's false statements, the conviction firmly 
impressed on his mind being that the chief object 
of the Society was the abolition of slavery in the 
States. But he also was eventually convinced of 
the wicked deception that had been practised upon 
him. [■ 

At a public meeting held in Exeter Hall, Garrison 
again exposed the Colonisation Society, and spoke 
in unsparing terms of the guilt of his beloved 
country. Citing O'ConneH's charges against 
American slave-holders, he concluded : — 

" Never was a more just and fearless rebuke 
given to a guilty nation. . . . Whatever responsi- 
bility may attach to Great Britain for the intro- 
duction of slavery into the United States (and to 
talk of robbery and kidnapping as things that may 



46 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



be entailed is precious absurdity), the first moment 
the United States published their Declaration of 
Independence to the world, from that moment 
they became exclusive^ accountable for the exis- 
tence and continuance of negro slavery " (vol. i., 
P- 373). 

An eloquent and scathing speech from the great 
Irish liberator himself completed the success of 
the Exeter Hall meeting, and O'Connell moved a 
resolution " that the fundamental principle of 
the Society was ever the colonisation of the free 
people of colour, and abolition never the object, 
but, on the contrary, the security of slave property" 
(vol. i., p. 377). This resolution was carried 
unanimously. 

The most important object of his mission thus 
happily accomplished, and the collection of funds 
for the proposed Labour School being,by the advice 
of his English friends, postponed, Garrison now 
turned his face homewards. His last act, before 
leaving England, was to attend the funeral of the 
great English Emancipationist, Wilberforce, and 
he sailed for America a few days before the Royal 
assent was given to the Bill emancipating 800,000 
slaves in the British West Indies. 

Reports of the speeches delivered at Exeter Hall, 
and elsewhere, reached America before the arrival 
of their author, and a warm reception was accord- 
ingly prepared for him. In both New York and 
Boston, the mob was publicly incited to punish 
the " negro champion," who had " slandered the 
Americans to the utmost of his power," and who 
" sought to trample the constitution under foot." 

Happily no serious mischief resulted, and in 
December of the same year, a Convention was held 
at Philadelphia for the formation of a National 
Anti-Slavery Society. The constitution of the 
" American Anti-Slavery Society," setting forth 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 47 



its principles and objects — the entire abolition of 
slavery, and the elevation of the people of colour — 
drawn up by Garrison, was, after much earnest 
consideration, signed by sixty members. 

The most memorable event for Garrison of the 
following year was his marriage with Helen 
Benson. Her father, George Benson, although 
brought up in the Baptist faith, had long held 
many principles identical with those of the Society 
of Friends, with whom he was in almost entire 
sympathy. He had for many years been an 
earnest advocate of emancipation, and had seen 
through the designs of the Colonisation Society 
before the Liberator came into existence. He was 
a warm supporter of the cause of Peace, and also 
of Temperance. Helen had therefore grown up in an 
atmosphere well calculated to develop a helpmeet 
for the champion of the oppressed slaves — and a 
true helpmeet she ever proved herself. Although 
seldom, if ever, taking a public part in the work to 
which her husband had consecrated his life, she 
was always in the closest sympathy with him, 
cheering, encouraging, and smoothing his path in 
every possible way. 

Henceforth Garrison's home was to be the 
bright spot to which his thoughts would turn with 
yearning love during all his wanderings ; but 
never, for a moment, did either husband or wife 
allow family affection to militate against the cause 
of the oppressed. Rather did love for his own 
children serve to intensify the father's sympathy 
for those among whom family ties were so cruelly 
and ruthlessly violated. 

Notwithstanding Helen Benson's declaration, 
" Bread and water agrees with me perfectly," it 
was obviously desirable that Garrison's financial 
affairs should now be put upon a less precarious 
footing. A circular was consequently drawn up 



48 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



by Garrison and Knapp, commencing with the 
words : " Shall the Liberator die ? " setting forth 
the conditions under which the paper had hitherto 
been produced, and appealing for increased sup- 
port. 

Several friends of the Anti-Slavery cause, con- 
spicuous among whom w r ere A. Buffum, E. Wright, 
junior, and George Thompson, exerted themselves 
on behalf of the embarrassed editor, and it was 
proposed that the New England Anti-Slavery 
Society should take over the paper, paying Garri- 
son a regular salary as editor. Many difficulties 
had, however, to be encountered, by no means least 
among which was the dissatisfaction felt by many 
of his warmest supporters at the " harsh and 
un-Christian " language used by the editor. In 
justification of this language, Garrison wrote as 
follows : — 

" In seizing ' the trump of God/ I had indeed 
to blow ' a jarring blast ' — but it was necessary 
to wake up a nation then slumbering in the lap of 
moral death. Thanks be to God that blast was 
effectual : it pierced the ears of the deaf, it startled 
the lethargic from their criminal sleep, and it shook 
the land as a leaf is shaken by the wind " (vol. i., p. 

458). 

And again, in answer to other similar attacks — 
" But the Liberator uses very hard language, and 
calls a great many bad names, and is very harsh 
and abusive. Precious cant, indeed ! And what 
has been so efficacious as this hard language ? 
Now, I am satisfied that its strength of denuncia- 
tion bears no proportion to the enormous guilt of the 
slave system. The English language is lamentably 
weak and deficient in regard to this matter. . . . 
I call a slave-holder a thief because he steals human 
beings, and reduces them to the condition of 
brutes ; and I am thought to be very abusive ! I 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



call the man a thief who takes my pocket-hand- 
kerchief from my pocket ; and all the people 
shout, ' Right ! right ! so he is ! ' and the court 
seizes him and throws him into prison. Wonderful 
consistency ! . . . How, then, ought I to feel, and 
speak, and write, in view of a system which is red 
with innocent blood, drawn from the bodies of 
millions of my countrymen, by the scourge of 
brutal drivers ; — which is full of all uncleanness 
and licentiousness ; — which destroys the ' life of 
the soul ' ; — and which is too horrible for the mind 
to imagine, or the pen to declare ? How ought I 
to feel and speak ? As a man ! as a patriot ! as a 
philanthropist ! as a Christian ! My soul should 
be, as it is, on fire. I should thunder — I should 
lighten. I should blow the trumpet of alarm, 
long and loud. I should use just such language 
as is most descriptive of the crime " (vol. i., pp. 
335, 336). 

During this trying time, Garrison was greatly 
cheered by the visit of his English friend, G. 
Thompson. This distinguished abolitionist, — of 
whom John Bright afterwards said : "I have 
always considered Mr. Thompson as the real 
liberator of the slaves in the English colonies ; for, 
without his commanding eloquence, made irre- 
sistible by the blessedness of his cause, I do not 
think all the other agencies then at work would 
have procured their freedom " (vol. i.,p. 435, note) 
— received a warm welcome, alike from friend and 
foe. So enraged were the advocates of slavery 
at the interference of a foreigner with their " pecu- 
liar institution " that the New York papers again 
incited the mob to acts of violence against 
the abolitionists ; and pro-slavery riots took place 
in many parts of the country. 

The " harsh and un-Christian n language of the 
Liberator, and the dissatisfaction it occasioned 

D 



50 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 

among its most earnest supporters gave the 
" Christian " churches a much desired opportunity 
of injuring the abolition cause. These churches, 
which had hitherto almost universally defended 
or apologised for slavery, and were, for the most 
part, supporters of the Colonisation Society, now 
thought to " put down Garrison and his friends " 
by the formation of a rival society, entitled " An 
American Union for the relief and improvement 
of the coloured race." Unable to secure the confi- 
dence either of the negroes or of any true abolition- 
ists, the Society had but a brief and ignominious 
career ; but this clerical attack upon the " Garri- 
sonites " marked the commencement of a long and 
severe struggle, which was destined to divide the 
abolition ranks, and to sever many warm friend- 
ships. 

In the year 1835, the question of abolition was 
brought definitely before Congress, and, although 
the several petitions, from New York, Ohio, Penn- 
sylvania, Massachusetts, etc., were all laid on the 
table, it was evident that the question of slavery 
had come to stay in Congress. The Southern 
states now began to show considerable alarm, 
excited largely by the increased activity of the 
American Anti-Slavery Society. Meetings were 
held in New York, and elsewhere, to protest 
against any interference with Southern institutions, 
and disturbances occurred in many places. Some 
idea of the excited state of public feeling may be 
gathered from a letter written by Mrs. Child, 
then in New York. 

" I have not ventured into the city," she writes, 
u nor does one of us dare to go to church to-day, 
so great is the excitement here. You can form no 
conception of it. Tis like the times of the French 
Revolution, when no man dared trust his neigh- 
bours. Private assassins from New Orleans are 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 51 



lurking at the corners of the streets to stab Arthur 
Tappan ; and very large sums are offered for any 
one who will convey Mr. Thompson into the slave 
states " (vol. i., pp. 490, 491). 

Henry Benson also writes : " Five thousand 
dollars were offered on the Exchange in New York 
for the head of Arthur Tappan on Friday last. 
Elizar Wright is barricading his house with shutters, 
bars and bolts. . . . Judge Jay has been with us 
two or three days. He is firm as the everlasting 
hills " (vol. i., p. 492). 

A meeting in Faneuil Hall, Boston, called to 
" vindicate the fair fame of our city," and attended 
by all the elite of Boston, raised the growing hos- 
tility against the abolitionists to the highest pitch. 
Peleg Sprague, who had recently represented the 
state of Maine in the Senate, spoke in the strongest 
terms against the abolitionists, accusing them of 
exciting men to insurrection and violence, and 
above all, of endangering the Union. George 
Thompson, as a foreigner, was especially singled 
out as an object of attack, and the abolitionists as 
a body were taunted with their prudence in not 
going south. 

Harrison Grey Otis, another ex-Senator, followed 
in the same strain, denouncing the Anti-Slavery 
Society as a dangerous association, denying that 
Christ was an " immediatist," or that the Scrip- 
tures were anywhere opposed to slavery. 

The columns of the Liberator contained Garrison's 
reply to these accusations. Sprague's taunt that 
the abolitionists carefully avoided the South was 
answered at length, and George Thompson was 
loyally defended. Two letters were also addressed 
to H. G. Otis, for whom Garrison had formerly 
felt great admiration and respect. 

The following extracts from Garrison's private 
correspondence serve to reveal the danger now 



52 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



threatening the abolitionist leaders, and also the 
spirit in which it was met. 

" How imminent is the danger that hovers 
about the persons of our friends. G. Thompson and 
A. Tappan ! Rewards for the seizure of the latter 
are multiplying — in one place they offer 3000 
dollars for his ears — a purse has been made up, 
publicly ', of 20,000 dollars, in New Orleans, for his 
person. I, too, I desire to bless God, am involved 
in almost equal peril " (vol. i., p. 517). " Our 
brother Thompson had a narrow escape from the 
mob at Concord, and Whittier* was pelted with 
mud and stones, but he escaped bodily damage. 
His soul, being intangible, laughed at the saluta- 
tion. That some of us will be assassinated or 
abducted, seems more than probable — but there is 
much apparent, without any real danger. There 
is a whole eternity of consolation in this assurance — 
he who loses his life for Christ's sake shall find it. 
To die is gain. A. E. Grimke . . . has sent me a 
soul-thrilling epistle, in which, with a spirit worthy 
of the best days of martyrdom, she says, 'A hope 
gleams across my mind, that our blood will be spilt 
instead of the slave-holders'; our lives will be 
taken and theirs spared/ Is not this Christlike ? u 

" It comes to us as the voice of an angel . . . 
Yes, we respond to her cheering declaration— 
" This is a cause worth dying for . . . If by the 
shedding of our blood the lives of our enemies may 
be saved, let it be shed. Father, Thy will be done !" 
(vol. i., pp. 517, 518). 



* The poet. 



CHAPTER III 



After enjoying some months of tranquillity in 
his country home, near Brooklyn, Garrison re- 
turned, in September, to Boston, just as the storm, 
which had long been brewing, was ready to burst 
upon the heads of the Abolitionists. 

The activity of George Thompson, the " foreign 
scoundrel who dared to interfere with American 
institutions/' had provoked the rage of the pro- 
slavery party beyond the possibility of restraint ; 
a placard — confessedly written and printed by the 
editor of The Commercial Gazette, inciting the 
Boston citizens to " snake out " and punish the 
" infamous " foreigner, appeared in the streets of 
Boston. Owing to the excited state of public 
feeling, it was deemed advisable that Thompson 
should not give his promised address at the anni- 
versary meeting of the Boston Female Anti- 
Slavery Society, and only the ordinary business 
meeting of the women was held, at the Anti- 
Slavery Rooms. 

Notwithstanding this precaution, a howling 
mob of " respectable " citizens besieged the build- 
ing, and forced their way up the staircase, refusing 
to disperse even when assured by the mayor that 
Thompson was not in the city. Garrison, the only 
man present at the meeting, being unable to induce 
the intruders to behave in an orderly manner, and 
perceiving that his presence only added fuel to 
the fire, retired into an adjoining room — the print- 
ing office — while the women proceeded to transact 



54 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



their business alone. The scene is thus described 
by Garrison : — 

" The crowd in the street had augmented from a 
hundred to thousands. The cry was for ' Thomp- 
son ! Thompson ! ' — but the mayor had now 
arrived, and addressing the rioters, he assured 
them that Mr. Thompson was not in the city, and 
besought them to disperse. As well might he 
have attempted to propitiate a troop of ravenous 
wolves. None went away — but the tumult con- 
tinued momentarily to increase. It was apparent, 
therefore, that the hostility of the throng was not 
concentrated upon Mr. Thompson, but that it 
was as deadly against the Society and the Anti- 
Slavery cause. This fact is worthy of special 
note — for it incontestably proves that the object 
of the ' respectable and influential ' rioters was 
to put down the cause of emancipation, and that 
Mr. Thompson furnished merely a pretext for five 
thousand ' gentlemen ' to mob thirty Christian 
women ! . . . 

" Notwithstanding the presence and frantic 
behaviour of the rioters in the hall, the meeting 
of the Society was regularly called to order by the 
President. She then read a select and an ex- 
ceedingly appropriate portion of Scripture, and 
offered up a fervent prayer to God for direction and 
succour, and the forgiveness of enemies andrevilers. 
It was an awful, sublime and soul-thrilling scene — 
enough, one would suppose, to melt adamantine 
hearts and make even fiends of darkness stagger 
and retreat. Indeed, the clear, untremulous tone 
of voice of that Christian heroine in prayer occa- 
sionally awed the ruffians into silence, and was 
distinctly heard even in the midst of their hisses, 
threats and curses — for they could not long silently 
endure the agony of conviction, and their conduct 
became furious. They now attempted to break 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 55 



down the partition, and partially succeeded — but 
the little band of females still maintained their 
ground unshrinkingly, and continued to transact 
their business. 

" An assault was now made upon the door of the 
office, the lower panel of which was instantly 
dashed to pieces. Stooping down and glaring upon 
me as I sat at the desk, writing an account of the 
riot to a friend, the ruffians cried out — ' There he 
is ! That's Garrison ! Out with the scoundrel ! ■ 
etc., etc. Turning to Mr. Burleigh, I said, 'You 
may as well open the door, and let them come in 
and do their worst/ But he, with great presence 
of mind, went out, locked the door, put the key in 
his pocket, and by his admirable firmness, suc- 
ceeded in keeping the office safe. 

" Two or three constables, having cleared the 
hall and staircase of the mob, the mayor came in 
and ordered the ladies to desist, assuring them that 
he could not any longer guarantee protection if 
they did not take immediate advantage of the 
opportunity to retire from the building " (vol. ii., 
pp. 13, 14, 15). 

Yielding to his entreaties these heroic women 
adjourned their meeting, and quietly left the hall, 
" two and two, each with a coloured friend, thus 
giving what protection a white skin could ensure 
a dark one " (vol. ii., p. 16). 

"But even their absence," continued Garrison, 
" did not diminish the throng. Thompson was not 
there — the ladies were not there — but ' Garrison is 
there ! ' was the cry. 1 Garrison ! Garrison ! We 
must have Garrison ! Out with him ! Lynch 
him ! ' These and numberless other exclamations 
arose from the multitude ... It was now apparent 
that the multitude would not disperse until I had 
left the building. At this juncture, an abolition 
brother, whose mind had not been previously 



56 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



settled on the peace question, in his anguish and 
alarm for my safety, and in view of the helplessness 
of the civil authority, said : ' I must henceforth 
repudiate the principle of non-resistance. When 
the civil arm is powerless, my own rights are trod- 
den in the dust, and the lives of my friends are put 
in imminent peril by ruffians, I will hereafter pre- 
pare to defend myself and them at all hazards ! ' 
Putting my hand upon his shoulder, I said : ' Hold, 
my dear brother ! You know not what spirit you 
are of. This is the trial of our faith, and the test 
of our endurance. Of what value or utility are 
the principles of peace and forgiveness, if we may 
repudiate them in the hour of peril and suffering ? 
Do you wish to become like one of those violent 
and blood-thirsty men who are seeking my life ? 
Shall we give blow for blow and array sword 
against sword ? God forbid ! I will perish 
sooner than raise my hand against any man, even 
in self-defence, and let none of my friends resort 
to violence for my protection. If my life be taken, 
the cause of emancipation will not suffer. God 
reigns — His throne is undisturbed by this storm — 
He will make the wrath of man to praise Him, 
and the remainder He will restrain — His omnipo- 
tence will at length be victorious " (vol. ii., pp. 
16, 18). 

Failing to make his escape through some work- 
shops at the rear of the premises, Garrison was 
finally discovered and seized by the mob. Their 
first impulse was to hurl him from the window ; one 
of his captors however, relented, and said, ''Don't 
let us kill him outright," so he was allowed to de- 
scend by means of a ladder. On reaching the 
ground he was immediately seized by two powerful 
men, to whose protection he probably owed his 
life. An eyewitness writes : — 

" I saw an exasperated mob dragging a man 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 57 



along, without his hat, and with a rope about him. 
The man walked with head erect, calm counte- 
nance, flashing eyes, like a martyr going to the 
stake, full of faith and manly hope" (vol. ii., p. 22). 

Orders were given to carry the prisoner to the 
mayor's office, and despite the violence of the mob, 
his two sturdy supporters succeeded in carrying 
him safely up to the mayor's room — not, however, 
before his clothes had been literally torn from his 
back. 

The lack of firmness manifested by the mayor 
throughout these proceedings rendered it impossible 
for him now to restrain the mob, or afford any 
permanent protection to their victim. The only 
expedient he could devise was to commit Garrison 
to prison as a disturber of the peace. But before 
the jail could be reached, a passage had again to be 
forced through the raging mob. The carriage in 
which Garrison was placed was immediately sur- 
rounded, the rioters clung to the wheels, dashed 
open the door, seized the horse and tried to upset 
the carriage. They were, however, vigorously 
repulsed by the police, and the jail was, at length, 
reached in safety, The following day, Garrison 
left the city. 

Notwithstanding this almost miraculous deliv- 
erance, the weakness of the mayor — especially in 
the earlier part of the day, when, at the bidding 
of the mob, he ordered the anti-slavery sign to be 
torn down from the front of the office — was severely 
criticised by Garrison, though not, as he said, 
because he himself sought the protection of the 
law. " For myself," he wrote, " I ask no physical 
violence to be exerted for my pro' ction, and I 
acknowledge no other government than that of 
the most High. I have condemned the mayor 
only in view of the oath of office which he has 
taken, and of the form of government which he 



58 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



and the people believe they ought at all hazards 
to maintain " (vol. ii., p. 30). 

The Press, religious — with two exceptions — as 
well as secular, were unanimous in justifying or 
excusing the rioters, and condemning the aboli- 
tionists. Indeed, all " respectable " citizens seem 
to have vied with one another in defending this 
iniquitous and illegal transaction. Harriet 
Martineau, who passed through Boston at the com- 
mencement of the riot, writes thus : — 

a Lawyers on that occasion defended a breach 
of the laws ; ladies were sure that the gentlemen of 
Boston would do nothing improper ; merchants 
thought the abolitionists were served quite right — 
they were so troublesome to established routine ; 
the clergy thought the subject 1 so low 1 that 
people of taste should not be compelled to hear 
anything about it ; and even Judge Story, when 
I asked him whether there was not a public prose- 
cutor who might prosecute for the assault on 
Garrison, if the abolitionists did not, replied that 
he had given his advice (which had been formally 
asked) against any notice whatever being taken of 
the outrage, — the feeling being so strong against 
the discussion of slavery, and the rioters being so 
respectable in the city. These things I myself 
heard and saw, or I would not ask anybody to 
believe what I could hardly credit myself " (vol. 

p. 37). 

The financial difficulties of the Liberator, already 
upon the Anti-Slavery party. The necessity of 
very embarrassing, were augmented by this attack 
quitting their printing office at a moment's notice 
added consi . rably to the embarrassment of the 
publishers, and during Garrison's absence from 
Boston, an additional burden rested upon the 
shoulders of Isaac Knapp. Still they struggled 
bravely on, but the next year (1835), the partner- 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 59 



ship between Garrison and Knapp was dissolved, 
the latter assuming all the pecuniary liabilities and 
becoming sole publisher. 

A great part of this year was passed by Garrison 
in retirement at Brooklyn, chiefly in consequence 
of ill-health. He continued, however, to write for 
the Liberator, and was in constant touch with those 
more actively engaged in Anti-slavery work. 

Dr. Channing's pamphlet on slavery, published 
in November, 1835, created considerable stir, owing 
rather to the influential position of the author than 
to the intrinsic merit of the work. For years Dr. 
Channing had looked coldly upon the abolition 
movement, and had earnestly remonstrated with 
members of his congregation for wishing to join 
it. The methods of the editor of the Liberator 
repelled him, and all Garrison's attempts to obtain 
an interview with the doctor proved unavailing. 
It was, however, impossible for one so prominent 
in the religious world to remain silent upon a 
subject of such vital importance, and after the 
Boston riot the long delayed expression of opinion 
appeared in pamphlet form. This publication, 
although largely circulated by some of the friends 
of emancipation, called forth some severe criticism 
from the editor of the Liberator. In a private letter 
he wrote :— 

" I have read Channing's work. It abounds in 
useful truisms expressed in polished terms, but, 
as a whole, is an inflated, inconsistent and slander- 
ous production " (vol. ii., p. 61). And again : — 

" Now, Dr. Channing brings two grievous (be- 
cause slanderous) accusations against the whole 
body of abolitionists — to wit,that they are fanatics, 
and that something has probably been lost to the 
cause of human liberty by their efforts ! We may 
complacently smile at such accusations ; but the 
reputation of Dr. Channing gives them an influence 



6o WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



disastrous to our cause — yea, they are a two-edged 
sword, wounding us and our cause at the same 
blow. It was the preaching of the Gospel alone 
that made Peter and Paul, and Silas and Stephen 
* pestilent fellows/ * stirrers up of sedition/ etc., 
etc/' (vol. ii., p. 93). 

Nevertheless, Garrison admitted that the pam- 
phlet contained "many eloquent and powerful pas- 
sages/' He also gave the author credit for pure 
intentions and moral courage in publishing it. 

A speech delivered by Dr. Beecher, at a public 
meeting called ''to take into consideration the in- 
creasing desecration of the Sabbath Day/' following 
upon a sermon which was virtually a vindication 
of slavery, drew Garrison into a somewhat lengthy 
discussion of the Sabbath question — a question 
destined soon to prove an apple of discord among 
the anti-slavery brethren, and a ready point of 
attack for their enemies. 

Although Garrison had, only a few days pre- 
viously, commented on the profanation of the 
Sabbath by military displays, he now gave ex- 
pression to those broader and less sectarian reli- 
gious views which were slowly but surely under- 
mining his former somewhat intolerant orthodoxy. 
In reply to Dr. Beecher's assertion that " the 
Sabbath is the great sun of the moral world/' he 
pointed out that Jesus and His apostles had taken 
but little account of the Sabbath, that the Jewish 
Sabbath was kept by no Christians, and that the 
fourth commandment was no more binding than 
the other nine — all of which were annihilated by 
slavery, a system which Dr. Beecher advocated 
leaving alone, as it was sure to come to an end in 
the course of a couple of centuries ! " Let men 
consecrate to the service of Jehovah, not merely 
one day in seven, but all their time, thoughts, 
actions and powers" (vol. ii., p. 108). 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 61 



Another article followed in which Garrison 
showed the uselessness of all attempts to enforce 
Sabbath keeping, and the absurdity of the current 
superstitious notions on the subject. 

" Supposing the fourth commandment," he 
wrote, " to be, not a Jewish provision merely, but 
obligatory upon all mankind, we are nowhere 
taught in the Bible that its violation is worse than 
that of the third, or fifth, or sixth, or seventh. But 
it is seldom pretended, even by the most credulous, 
that special judgments, " speaking the divine 
disapprobation," are visited upon the heads of 
those who commit adultery, or kill, or covet, or 
will not honour their father or mother. No — a 
monopoly of punishment is given to the Sabbath, 
to ensure its strict outward observance ! " (vol. ii., 
p. 109). 

In a series of articles, written in reply to Dr. 
Beecher, Garrison also took occasion to insist upon 
the sinfulness of war, and the Christian character 
of non-resistance. Such heterodox views naturally 
called forth a storm of protest, not from foes alone, 
but also from numerous friends of the Liberator. 
Subscriptions fell off, and although the editor 
disclaimed the intention of allowing the Liberator 
to become " the arena of Sabbatical controversy," 
" the germs of contention" had already crept into 
the abolition ranks. The editor's non-resistant 
views were also made a point of attack by his 
clerical antagonists, who warned the Liberator's 
subscribers of their " responsibility for such 
heresies." 

In connection with the subject of non-resistance 
and political action we may note that, at the 
anniversary meeting of the American Anti-Slavery 
Society in 1837, a resolution was adopted to the 
effect that abolitionists ought neither to organise a 
distinct political party, nor attach themselves, as 



62 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



abolitionists, to any existing party, yet were 
" solemnly bound by the principles of our civil and 
religious institutions to refuse to support any man 
for office who will not sustain the freedom of speech, 
freedom of the press, the right of petition and the 
abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the 
district of Columbia and the territories ; and who 
will not oppose the introduction of any new slave 
state in the Union " (vol. ii., p. 130). 

Notwithstanding the opposition of all sections 
of the community, and especially of the churches, 
which still closed their doors against abolitionist 
propaganda, the cause was now making steady pro- 
gress. Every day saw the formation of a new 
Anti-Slavery Society ; 300 such societies (one 
numbering over 4000 members) existed in the 
State of Ohio alone ; another sign of the change 
of public feeling may be seen in the fact that in 
1837, the use of the Hall of the House of Represen- 
tatives was granted for a meeting of the Boston 
Anti-Slavery Society. 

The hostility of the clergy, hitherto manifested 
in censure of the harsh language of the Liberator, 
now assumed a more decided and threatening 
aspect. A letter from Dr. Channing, ostensibly 
a vindication of the abolitionists, but in reality a 
criticism of their methods and spirit (a letter of 
which Garrison wrote : " a million letters like 
this would never emancipate a single slave, but 
rather rivet his fetters more strongly " (vol. ii., p. 
132), was followed by a more direct and open 
attack upon the Liberator. 

This attack was doubtless to a great extent pro- 
voked by Garrison's disregard of the Sabbath, and, 
indeed, of all external observances, and his severe 
condemnation of the refusal of the clergy to make 
any decided stand against slavery ; neverthe- 
less the immediate cause of the attack was an 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 63 



innovation which may fairly be regarded as the 
beginning of the Woman's Rights movement in 
America. 

Sarah and Angelina E. Grimke, members of the 
Society of Friends, and ardent advocates of eman- 
cipation, had delivered eloquent appeals on behalf 
of the slave in many of the northern churches. 
This practice, when carried beyond the limits of 
their own sect, caused so much scandal that many 
of their warmest abolition friends urged the sisters 
to desist from public speaking outside the Quaker 
community. This they refused, on principle, to 
do ; nor would they even consent to their Quaker- 
ism being made an excuse for their " exercising the 
rights and performing the duties of a rational and 
responsible being." " The Lord," wrote Sarah, 
" has very unexpectedly made us the means of 
bringing up the discussion of the question of 
women's preaching, and all we have to do is to do 
our duty " (vol. ii., p. 134). 

It was in reference to this subject that the 
Pastoral letter of the General Association of Mas- 
sachusetts to the Orthodox Congregational 
churches protested against " the perplexed and 
agitating subjects which are now common among 
us," being forced upon the churches. The letter 
also lamented the loss of ' ' deference to the Pastoral 
office," and declared it to be a " violation of sacred 
and important rights," to encourage a stranger to 
present to a congregation topics on which the 
settled pastor does not see fit to preach. Attention 
was also called to the " widespread and permanent 
injury " threatening the female character, and to 
the fact that the New Testament clearly defines 
" the appropriate duties and influence of women." 
Thus the clergy were to have the sole right of 
presenting moral topics to their parishioners — 
if the anti-slavery reform could not work through 



64 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



clerical (orthodox) channels, and under clerical 
censorship it was irreligious and ungodly ! 

This letter was almost immediately followed by 
an " appeal of Clerical Abolitionists on Anti- 
Slavery Measures/' signed by five clergymen, but 
really the work of two of their number, Fitch and 
Towne. The " Appeal " complained of the Libera- 
tor's attack upon a minister who had been declared, 
but not proved, to be a slave holder — its "demand" 
that ministers should read anti-slavery notices 
handed to them to read in their churches — the 
diverting of the support from Missions to Anti- 
Slavery Societies — and abuse of gospel ministers 
and excellent Christians who were not ready to 
unite with the Anti-Slavery Societies. The effect 
of this last practice was, they declared, " to pre- 
vent many worthy men from appearing in favour 
of immediate emancipation." 

The Clerical Appeal was reviewed by Garrison, 
in the Liberator, in language little calculated to 
allay the hostility of the clergy. The Press took 
this opportunity to make a fresh attack upon the 
Liberator and " Garrisonism." Another "Appeal " 
from the abolitionists of the Andover Theological 
Seminary followed ; then a letter from a Mas- 
sachusetts clergyman declaring that he was an 
abolitionist but had never swallowed Garrison, 
and that, with the cause of abolition, Garrison 
was " determined to carry forward and propagate 
and enforce his peculiar theology. Slavery is not 
merely to be abolished, but nearly everything else 
. . . the Sabbath, the Christian ministry, the 
churches, and all civil and family government " 
(vol. ii., pp. 142, 143). 

The latter remark had reference to the so-called 
Perfectionist views which, about this time, took 
a strong hold on Garrison's mind. 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 65 



The intellectual and spiritual awakening which 
formed such a marked feature of this period — a 
period which has been well described as one when 
" the mind appeared to have become aware of 
itself/' when " men grew reflective and intellec- 
tual/ ' when " there was a new consciousness " — 
stirred in the mind of J. H. Noyes new thoughts on 
the subject of holiness. A periodical named the 
Perfectionist, published by Noyes, in conjunction 
with others holding similar views, appeared in 
1834, and in the spring of 1837 the editor called at 
the anti-slavery office in Boston. Finding 
Garrison deeply interested in his views, Noyes 
followed up this visit by a long letter in which he 
expounded them more fully — a letter published 
at a later date in the Liberator. 

The effect of this correspondence, and the 
thoughts awakened by it, appeared in an article 
written in reply to one claiming divine sanction for 
human governments. Garrison contended that 
human governments are " the result of human 
disobedience to the requirements of heaven/' and 
that " the kingdom which Christ has established 
on earth is ultimately to swallow up or radically to 
subvert all other kingdoms." But, he continued, 
" it is idle to talk of a government ceasing to exist 
over a sinful people, for their very disobedience 
renders it necessary, until they are willing to sub- 
mit to Christ. What then ? Shall we, as Chris- 
tians, applaud and do homage to human govern- 
ment ? Or shall we not rather lay the axe to the 
root of the tree, and attempt to destroy both 
cause and effect together ? Foolish are the spec- 
ulations about the best form of human govern- 
ment: what is government, but the express image 
of the moral character of a people ? " (vol. ii., pp. 
150, 151). 

These new views on government were again 

E 



66 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



discussed at some length in a Fourth of July 
address — the words of Noyes : — " My hope of 
the Millennium begins when Dr. Beecher's 
expires, viz., at the overthrow of this nation/' 
forming a text. Again, in August, there 
appeared in the Liberator a poem, entitled " True 
Rest," in which the editor maintained that " prac- 
tical holiness is attainable by any one who is truly 
born of God " (vol. ii., p. 153). 

These declarations, together with Garrison's 
reply to the first " Clerical Appeal," furnished his 
enemies with material for a fresh attack, which 
took the form of a second " Clerical Appeal." 

They now complained that the Liberator, for 
which the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society was 
at this time responsible, " contained such matter 
that it could no longer be circulated by those who 
loved the institutions of the Gospel." It was 
"more dangerous than infidelity" . . . the Society 
must have " at least a new public organ." " In a 
piece of poetry from his pen, in the last number, 
he speaks of keeping, not one in seven, but all the 
days holy " (vol. ii., p. 157). 

In reply to this attack, the board of managers 
of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society defended 
their editor, and friends from all quarters, black 
and white, rallied to his support. 

The Grimke sisters, although not a little troubled 
at the storm which they had helped to bring upon 
the Liberator and its editor, were firm in their de- 
termination to hold their ground. Sarah wrote to 
H. C. Wright : " I do not feel as if I could surrender 
my right to discuss any great moral subj ect . If my 
connection with anti-slavery must continue at the 
expense of my conscience, I had far rather be 
thrown out of the anti-slavery ranks" (vol. ii., p. 
160). " What would'st thou think," added Ange- 
lina, in a postcript to her sister's letter, " of the 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 67 



Liberator abandoning abolitionism as a primary 
object, and becoming the vehicle of all these grand 
principles ? Is not the time rapidly coming for 
such a change ? " (vol. ii., p. 161). 

With the exception of a brief remark to the 
effect that the Liberator's doctrines must not be 
confounded " with such as individual members 
may occasionally advance/' and that the Liberator 
would not permit its funds "to be used for the 
promotion of any principles or objects whatever, 
except those specified in the Const itution," the 
Emancipator (organ of the American Anti-Slavery 
Society) took no part in these controversies. 

This silence called forth a rebuke from Garrison, 
which was answered in a letter by Lewis Tappan, 
defending the executive committee, and severely 
criticising Garrison's attitude and language. 

Other friends and fellow workers expostulated 
at the Liberator being used for the purpose of 
advocating " sentiments novel and shocking to 
the community/ ' and urged the editor to leave 
alone the Sabbath and the theoretic theology of 
the priesthood and the government, until the 
great work of emancipation was accomplished. 
To Whittier's expression of regret (on the occasion 
of the publication of Noyes' Sectarian letter) that 
the Massachusetts Society was pecuniarily re- 
sponsible for a paper not under its control — the 
editor replied that the responsibility would ter- 
minate with the current volume — that he had not 
sought the present arrangement, which was only 
made experimentally, for one year, and that he 
would not consent to its renewal. 

Thus did differences of opinion and misunder- 
standing widen the breach in the abolition ranks. 



CHAPTER IV 



The murder of E. P. Love joy, editor of an anti- 
slavery paper, by a pro-slavery mob in Illinois, did 
more, perhaps, to shake the North out of its guilty 
acquiescence in the slave system than did any other 
event of this year. 

Three printing presses having been destroyed 
by the mob, a band of twenty volunteers armed 
themselves — with the mayor's approval — in de- 
fence of the fourth press. At their head was Love- 
joy, the editor. The warehouse was attacked and 
set on fire, and Lovejoy, the first to leave tthe 
building to face the infuriated mob, fell, a martyr 
to his anti-slavery principles and the right of free 
speech. Boston, which two years before had 
threatened Garrison with a like fate, was stirred to 
its depths by the news. The timidity of Dr. Chan- 
ning at length gave way, and Wendell Phillips and 
Edmund Quincy, both able members of the bar, re- 
linquished all their worldly prospects and definitely 
cast in their lot with the despised abolition cause. 

Garrison's view of this tragic event may be best 
gathered from his own words : — 

" The amiable, benevolent, intrepid Lovejoy," he 
wrote in the Liberator, " is no more ! ... In his 
martyrdom he died as the representative of Phil- 
osophy, Justice, Liberty and Christianity ; well, 
therefore, may his fall agitate all heaven and 
earth ! That his loss will be of incalculable gain 
to the noble cause which was so precious to his 
soul, is certain/ ' . . , " We cannot, however, in 
conscience delay the expression of our regret that 
our martyred coadjutor and his unfaltering friends 
in Alton should have allowed any provocation, or 
personal danger, or hope of victory, or distrust of 
the protection of heaven, to drive them to take up 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 69 

arms in self-defence. They were not required to do 
so either as philanthropists or Christians, and they 
have certainly set a dangerous precedent in the 
maintenance of our cause, though this fact does not 
in the least palliate the blood-thirsty conduct of 
their assailants. Far be it from us to reproach our 
suffering brethren, or weaken the impression of 
sympathy which has been made on their behalf 
in the minds of the people — God forbid ! Yet, in 
the name of Jesus of Nazareth, who suffered Him- 
self to be unresistingly nailed to the cross, we 
solemnly protest against any of His professed fol- 
lowers resorting to carnal weapons under any pre- 
text or in any extremity whatever " (vol. ii., p. 190). 

Later, Garrison wrote : " Lovejoy was certainly 
a martyr, but, strictly speaking, he was not — at 
least in our opinion — a Christian martyr. He died 
like Warren, not like Stephen" (vol. ii., p. 190, note). 

The following resolutions of the Massachusetts 
Anti-Slavery Society express the views of the 
abolitionist body on this event. " That in resort- 
ing to arms, in the last extremity, to put down 
the implacable, seditious, and desperate enemies of 
public order, liberty and humanity, and to defend 
his property and life rather than succumb to their 
' reign of terror/ — being cruelly deserted as he 
was, by the civil and military authorities of the 
place, — he was amply justified by the principles set 
forth in the Declaration of Independence, by the 
example of our Revolutionary fathers, and by the 
applause which mankind have always bestowed 
upon those who have perished under similar cir- 
cumstances, consequently that for those who sub- 
scribe to that Declaration, and eulogise those 
patriotic sacrifices, to affect to be shocked at the 
brave and spirited defence made by Mr. Lovejoy t 
and on that account to consider his death as not 
deserving of peculiar sympathy or respect, is 



70 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



nothing better than base hypocrisy, cold-blooded 
insensibility and atrocious malignity/ ' 

" That while it is not in the province of this 
Board to determine for the friends of universal 
emancipation how far, or under what circumstances 
it is right to use arms in self-defence ; and while 
it is certain that no body of men have ever had a 
better right to do so than had Mr. Lovejoy and his 
associates, in view of the dreadful provocations and 
perils with which they were assailed ; yet as aboli- 
tionists we are constrained to believe, that if the 
doctrine of non-resistance had been practically 
carried out by our brethren in Alton, as it has been 
by the friends of the coloured race in Boston, New 
York, and many other places, a similar deliverance 
and victory would, in the providence of God, have 
been the result ; or, if not, that the spilling of the 
blood of defenceless men would have had a more 
thrilling and abiding effect " (vol. ii., pp. 190, 191). 

The connection between the Liberator and the 
Massachusetts Society having come to an end with 
the year 1837, the commencement of the eighth 
volume of the paper was preceded by the publica- 
tion of a fresh manifesto signed by Garrison and 
Knapp. Therein the editor stated that in addition 
to the subject for the discussion of which the paper 
had originally been started, he now intended to 
discuss from time to time, other topics, " inti- 
mately connected with the great doctrine of ina- 
lienable human rights." " The motto upon our 
banner," he wrote, " has been from the commence- 
ment of our moral warfare, — ' Our country is the 
world — our countrymen are all mankind/ We 
trust that it will be our only epitaph. Another 
motto we have chosen is ' L^niversal Emancipation/ 
Up to this time we have limited its application to 
those who are held in this country, by Southern 
taskmasters, as marketable commodities, goods 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 71 



and chattels and implements of husbandry. 
Henceforth we shall use it in its widest latitude : 
the emancipation of our whole race from the do- 
minion of man, from the thraldom of self, from the 
government of brute force, from the bondage of 
sin — and bringing them under the dominion of 
God, the control of an inward spirit, the govern- 
ment of the law of love, and into the obedience and 
liberty of Christ, who is the same yesterday, to-day 
and for ever . . . 

" Next to the overthrow of slavery, the cause of 
Peace will command our attention. The doctrine 
of non-resistance as commonly received and prac- 
tised by Friends, and certain members of other 
denominations, we conceive to be utterly inde- 
fensible in its application to national wars : not 
that it goes too far, but that it does not go far 
enough. If a nation may not redress its wrongs 
by physical force — if it may not repel and punish 
a foreign enemy who comes to plunder, enslave 
or murder its inhabitants — then it may not resort 
to arms to quell an insurrection, or send to prison 
or suspend upon a gibbet any transgressors upon 
its soil. If the slaves of the South have not an 
undoubted right to resist their masters in the last 
resort, then no man, or body of men, may appeal 
to the law of violence in self-defence — -for none 
have ever suffered, or can suffer, more than they. 
If, when men are robbed of their earnings, their 
liberties, their personal ownership, their wives and 
children, they may not resist, in no case can physi- 
cal resistance be allowable, either in an individual 
or collective capacity . . . 

" Now the doctrine we shall endeavour to incul- 
cate is that the kingdoms of this world are to be- 
come the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ; 
consequently that they are all to be supplanted 
, . . and He only who is King of kings and Lord of 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, 



lords, is to rule in righteousness. . . Its elements 
are righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy 
Ghost ... Its government is one of love, not of 
military coercion or physical restraint ; its laws 
are not written upon parchment, but upon the 
hearts of its subjects. 

" As to the governments of this world, whatever 
their titles or forms, we shall endeavour to prove 
that, in their essential elements, and as at present 
administered, they are all Anti-Christ, that they can 
never, by human wisdom, be brought into con- 
formity to the will of God ; that they cannot be 
maintained except by naval and military power ; 
that all their penal enactments, being a dead letter 
without an army to carry them into effect, are 
virtually written in human blood ; and that the 
followers of Jesus should instinctively shun their 
stations of honour, power and emolument — at the 
same time ' submitting to every ordinance of man, 
for the Lord's sake/ and offering no physical 
resistance to any of their mandates, however unjust 
or tyrannical. The language of Jesus is, 4 My 
kingdom is not of this world, else would My ser- 
vants fight/ " 

"So long as men contemn the perfect government 
of the Most High, and will not fill up the measure 
of Christ's sufferings in their own persons, just so 
long will they desire to usurp authority over each 
other — just so long will they pertinaciously cling 
to human governments, fashioned in the likeness 
and administered in the spirit of their own disobe- 
dience. Now, if the prayer of our Lord be not a 
mockery ; if the kingdom of God is to come uni- 
versally, and His will be done on earth as it is in 
Heaven ; and if in that kingdom no carnal weapon 
can be wielded . . . then why are not Christians 
obligated to come out now, and be separate from 
4 the kingdoms of the world/ which are all based 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 73 

upon the principle of violence, and which require 
their officers and servants to govern and be gov- 
erned by that principle ? . . . 

" These are among the views we shall offer in con- 
nection with the heaven originated cause of Peace . . 

" As our object is universal emancipation, — to 
redeem woman as well as man from a servile to an 
equal condition, we shall go for the Rights of 
Woman to their utmost extent " (vol. ii., pp. 200, 
201, 202, 203, 204). 

From this declaration we may gather a fair idea 
of Garrison's Perfectionist and anti-government 
views, the latter being the natural outcome of his 
Peace doctrines, rather than of a belief in the second 
coming of Christ — as was the case with his friend 
Noyes. His attitude was far less sectarian than 
Noyes\ Indeed, although throughout life he never 
ceased to quote largely from the Bible, orthodox 
religion, with all its externalism, had now almost 
entirely lost its hold upon his mind. 

The following words written to his wife, on the 
occasion of the marriage of A. E. Grimke to Theo- 
dore Weld, will express the freedom of soul to which 
he had attained. " I frankly told A. my feeling 
and expressed my fear that brother Weld's sec- 
tarianism would bring her into bondage, unless she 
could succeed in emancipating him ... I did 
hope she had been led to see, that in Christ Jesus, 
all stated observances are so many self-imposed 
and unnecessary yokes ; and that prayer and 
worship are all embodied in that pure, meek, 
child-like state of heart which affectionately and 
reverently breathes but one petition: 'Thy will be 
done on earth as it is in heaven/ Religion, dear 
Helen, is nothing but love — perfect love toward 
God and toward man — without formality, without 
hypocrisy, without partiality — depending upon no 
outward form to preserve its vitality or prove its 
existence " (vol. ii., pp. 211, 212). 



74 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



In thus adding to the number of subjects to be 
discussed in the Liberator, Garrison anticipated the 
views expressed by Emerson four years later. 
" There is," wrote the latter, " a perfect chain — see 
it, or see it not — of reforms emerging from the 
surrounding darkness, each cherishing some part 
of the general idea ; and all must be seen in order 
to do justice to any one . . . How trivial seem the 
contests of the abolitionist whilst he aims merely 
at the circumstance of the slave " (vol. ii., p. 206). 
As the Liberator was not yet self-supporting, the 
editor declared his intention of looking " for a bare 
support for himself and family to other, though 
yet unknown sources/ ' 

Again, during the summer of 1838, ill-health 
compelled Garrison to entrust the Liberator to his 
friend, O. Johnson, while he sought a much needed 
rest in the country. Although, disabled in head, 
eyes and right hand, he was with the greatest diffi- 
culty able to write, he still continued to attend 
anti-slavery meetings and, during the summer, 
delivered two elaborate addresses. From his own 
account of the opening meetings at the newly 
erected Sylvania Hall and of the subsequent de- 
struction of the building, we extract the following, 
as showing both the implacable hostility still di- 
rected against the abolition cause and the culpable 
weakness of the authorities — and also the calm and 
heroic attitude of these persecuted non-resistants. 

" As soon as I had concluded my address, a 
furious mob broke into the hall, yelling and shout- 
ing as if the very fiends of the pit had suddenly 
broke loose. The audience rose in some confusion, 
and would undoubtedly have been broken up, had 
it not been for the admirable self-possession of 
some individuals, particularly the women. The 
mobocrats, finding that they could not succeed in 
their purpose, retreated into the streets, and, sur- 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 75 



rounding the building, began to dash in the win- 
dows with stones and brickbats. It was under 
these appalling circumstances that Mrs. Chapman 
rose, for the first time in her life, to address a 
promiscuous assembly of men and women — and 
she acquitted herself nobly . . . 

"As the tumult from without increased, and the 
brickbats fell thick and fast (no one however being 
injured), her eloquence kindled, her eye flashed, and 
her cheeks glowed, as she devoutly thanked the 
Lord that the stupid repose of the city had at length 
been disturbed by the force of truth . . . The 
meeting broke up about ten o'clock and we all got 
safely home. The next day the street was thronged 
with profane ruffians and curious spectators — the 
women, however, holding their meetings in the hall 
all day, till towards evening. It was given out by 
the mob that the hall would be burnt to the ground 
that night. We were to have a meeting in the 
evening, but it was impossible to execute our 
purpose. The mayor induced the managers to give 
the key of the building into his hands. He then 
locked the doors, and made a brief speech to the 
mob, assuring them that he had the keys, and that 
there would be no meeting, and requesting them to 
retire. He then went home, but the mob were 
bent on the destruction of that hall. They had 
now increased to several thousands, and soon got 
into the hall by dashing open the doors with axes. 
They then set fire to this huge building, and in the 
course of an hour it was a solid mass of flame. The 
bells of the city were rung and several engines 
rallied ; but no water was permitted to be thrown 
upon the building " (vol. ii., pp. 215, 216). 

The New England Anti-Slavery Convention 
which met in May, 1838, was memorable chiefly 
as the battle ground of the " Woman's Question." 
An attempt was made to rescind the resolution, 



76 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



previously adopted, that women should be invited 
to become members and take part in the proceed- 
ings. This attempt being unsuccessful, Amos 
Phelps, and five other orthodox clergymen, asked 
to have their names removed from the rolls, and 
their protest printed. Whittier also wrote in his 
Pennsylvania paper that the discussion of the 
question of admitting women to membership had 
" nothing to do with the professed objects of the 
Convention, and a discussion of the merits of 
animal magnetism, or of the Mormon Bible would 
have been quite as appropriate " (vol. ii., p. 221). 
This protest called forth from Garrison the follow- 
ing expression of opinion : — 

" The ' Woman Question/ so far as it respects the 
right or the propriety of requiring women to be 
silent in Anti- Slavery Conventions, when they affirm 
that their consciences demand that they shall 
speak, is not an ' irrelevant 1 question, but one 
which it is perfectly proper to discuss in such 
bodies whenever the right alluded to is claimed. 
... Is it not as proper to discuss the means as the 
end of our organisation ? It would not, indeed, 
be relevant then and there to discuss Woman's 
Rights ; but when a woman responds aye to a 
proposition, or rises to express her conviction 
from a sense of duty, shall we ' Apply the Gag ? 9 " 
(vol. ii., p. 221). 

But the most momentous event of the year was 
the holding of a Peace Convention, and the forma- 
tion of the Non-Resistance Society. 

The subject of Peace — always one of deep interest 
to Garrison — had lately been discussed in a series 
of weekly lectures, delivered in Boston by several 
prominent Unitarian ministers. The effect of these 
lectures was, however, weakened by the failure of 
the speakers to follow out their peace principles to 
their logical conclusions. The Peace Societies also 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



were so inconsistent — the American Peace Society 
" enrolling upon its list of members, not converted, 
but belligerous commanders-in-chief, generals, 
colonels, majors, corporals and all," — that Garrison 
finding it c< radically defective in principle and based 
upon the sand," had given notice in August, 1837: 
" I hope to be more deeply engaged in the cause of 
Peace by and by than I am at present ; and unless 
they alter their present course, the first thing I 
shall do will be to serve our Peace Societies as I have 
done the Colonisation Societies " (vol. ii., p. 222). 

Accordingly, in May, 1838, at a meeting of 
" Friends of Peace," a committee was appointed 
to call a Convention, " for the purpose of having a 
free and full discussion of the principles of Peace, 
and of the measures best adapted to promote this 
holy cause." Garrison's views on this important 
subject are well expressed in the following letter : — 

" We shall probably find no difficulty in bringing 
a large majority of the Convention to set their seal 
of condemnation upon the present Militia system 
and its ridiculous and pernicious accompaniments. 
They will also, I presume, reprobate all wars, defen- 
sive as well as offensive. They will not agree so 
cordially as to the inviolability of human life. But 
few, I think, will be ready to concede that Chris- 
tianity forbids the use of physical force in the pun- 
ishment of evil doers ; yet nothing is plainer to 
my understanding, or more congenial to the feelings 
of my heart. The desire of putting my enemies 
into a prison, or inflicting any kind of chastisement 
upon them, except of a moral kind, is utterly 
eradicated from my breast. I can conceive of no 
provocations greater than those which my Lord 
and Master suffered unresistingly. In dying upon 
the cross that His enemies might live, — in asking 
for their forgiveness in the extremity of His agonies, 
— He has shown me how to meet all my foes, aye, and 



78 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



to conquer them, or, at least, to triumph over them. 

" Henceforth, then, I war with no man after the 
flesh. I feel the excellence and sublimity of that 
precept which bids me pray for those who de- 
spitefully use me ; and of that other precept which 
enjoins upon me, when smitten upon the one cheek, 
to turn the other also. Even in this the yoke of 
the Saviour is easy, and His burden is light. We 
degrade our spirits in a brutal conflict. To talk of 
courts of justice, and of punishing evil and disobe- 
dient men, — of protecting the weak, and avenging 
the wronged, by a fosse comitatus, or a company 
of soldiers, — has a taking sound ; but it is hollow 
in my ears. I believe that Jesus Christ is to con- 
quer this rebellious world as completely as the 
spirit of evil has now possession of it ; and I know 
that He repudiates the use of all carnal weapons 
in carrying on His warfare. There is not a brickbat 
or a bludgeon, not a sword or pistol, not a bowie- 
knife or musket, not a cannon or bombshell, 
which He does not suffer his universal foe to use 
against Him ; and which He does not forbid His 
soldiers to employ in self-defence, or for aggressive 
purposes. If, then, the spirit of Christ dwell in 
me, how can I resort to those things which He could 
not adopt ? If I belong to His kingdom, what 
have I to do with the kingdoms of this world ? 
Let the dead bury their dead " (vol. ii., p. 225). 

In September the Convention met. After the 
business preliminaries had been settled (several 
of the orthodox party having withdrawn in con- 
sequence of women being elected to the business 
committeee), H. C. Wright proposed a resolution 
" declaring that no man, no government, has a 
right to take the life of man, on any pretext, ac- 
cording to the gospel of Christ " (vol. ii., p. 228). 
An animated discussion followed and the resolution 
was finally adopted by a large majority. 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



Garrison, as chairman of a committee elected 
for the purpose of forming the new Society, then 
drew up a constitution and Declaration of Senti- 
ments, which, although radical in all things, was 
adopted by a considerable majority. The de- 
claration was as follows (vol. ii., pp. 230, 231) : 

" Assembled in Convention, from various sections 
of the American Union, for the promotion of peace 
on earth and good- will among men, we, the under- 
signed, regard it as due to ourselves, to the cause 
which we love, to the country in which we live, and 
to the world, to publish a Declaration, expressive 
of the principles we cherish, the purposes we aim 
to accomplish, and the measures we shall adopt to 
carry forward the work of peaceful, universal 
reformation. We cannot acknowledge allegiance 
to any human government ; neither can we oppose 
any such government by a resort to physical 
force. We recognise but one King and Law- 
giver, one Judge and Ruler of mankind. 
We are bound by the laws of a kingdom which 
is not of this world ; the subjects of which are 
forbidden to fight ; in which Mercy and Truth 
are met together, and Righteousness and Peace 
have kissed each other ; which has no state lines, 
no national partitions, no geographical boundaries; 
in which there is no distinction of rank, or division 
of caste, or inequality of sex ; the officers of which 
are Peace, its exactors Righteousness, its walls 
Salvation, and its gates Praise ; and which is 
destined to break in pieces and consume all other 
kingdoms. 

"Our country is the world, our countrymen are all 
mankind. We love the land of our nativity only 
as we love all other lands. The interests, rights, 
liberties of American citizens are no more dear to 
us than are those of the whole human race. Hence, 
we can allow no appeal to patriotism, to revenge 



8o WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



any national insult or injury. The Prince of 
Peace, under whose stainless banner we rally, came 
not to destroy, but to save, even the worst of 
enemies. He has left us an example, that we 
should follow His steps. God commendeth His 
love toward us, in that while we were yet 
sinners, Christ died for us. 

" We conceive, that if a nation has no right to 
defend itself against foreign enemies, or to punish 
its invaders, no individual possesses that right in 
his own case. The unit cannot be of greater im- 
portance than the aggregate. If one man may 
take life, to obtain or defend his rights, the same 
licence must necessarily be granted to communities, 
states, and nations. If he may use a dagger or a 
pistol, they may employ cannon, bombshells, land 
and naval forces. The means of self-preservation 
must be in proportion to the magnitude of interests 
at stake and the number of lives exposed to de- 
struction. But if a rapacious and blood-thirsty 
soldiery, thronging these shores from abroad, with 
intent to commit rapine and destroy life, may not 
be resisted by the people or magistracy, then ought 
no resistance to be offered to domestic troublers 
of the public peace or of private security. No 
obligation can rest upon Americans to regard 
foreigners as more sacred in their persons than 
themselves, or to give them a monopoly of wrong- 
doing with impunity. 

"The dogma, that all the governments of the 
world are approvingly ordained of God, and that the 
Powers that be in the United States, in Russia, 
in Turkey, are in accordance with His will, is not 
less absurd than impious. It makes the impartial 
Author of human freedom and equality, unequal 
and tyrannical. It cannot be affirmed that the 
Powers that be, in any nation, are actuated by 
the spirit or guided by the example of Christ, in the 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 81 



treatment of enemies ; therefore, they cannot be 
agreeable to the will of God ; and therefore, their 
overthrow, by a spiritual regeneration of their 
subjects, is inevitable. 

" We register our testimony, not only against all 
wars, whether offensive or defensive, but all pre- 
parations for war ; against every naval ship, 
every arsenal, every fortification ; against the 
militia system and a standing army ; against all 
military chieftains and soldiers ; against all monu- 
ments commemorative of victory over a fallen 
foe, all trophies won in battle, all celebrations in 
honour of military or naval exploits ; against all 
appropriations for the defence of a nation by force 
and arms, on the part of any legislative body ; 
against every edict of government requiring of its 
subjects military service. Hence, we deem it 
unlawful to bear arms, or to hold a military office. 

'* As every human government is upheld by phy- 
sical strength, and its laws are enforced virtually 
at the point of the bayonet, we cannot hold any 
office which imposes upon its incumbent the obli- 
gation to compel men to do right, on pain of im- 
prisonment or death. We, therefore, voluntarily 
exclude ourselves from every legislative and 
judicial body, and repudiate all human politics, 
worldly honours, and stations of authority. If we 
cannot occupy a seat in the legislature or on the 
bench, neither can we elect others to act as our sub- 
stitutes in any such capacity. 

" It follows, that we cannot sue any man at law, 
to compel him by force to restore anything which 
he may have wrongfully taken from us or others ; 
but if he has seized our coat, we shall surrender up 
our cloak, rather than subject him to punishment. 

" We believe that the penal code of the old cove- 
nant, AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A 

tooth, has been abrogated by Jesus Christ ; and 

F 



82 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



that, under the new covenant, the forgiveness 
instead of the punishment of enemies has been 
enjoined upon all His disciples, in all cases what- 
soever. To extort money from enemies, or set them 
upon a pillory, or cast them into prison, or hang 
them upon a gallows, is obviously not to forgive, 
but to take retribution. Vengeance is Mine, I 

WILL REPAY, SAITH THE LORD. 

* ' The history of mankind is crowded with evi- 
dences proving that physical coercion is not adapted 
to moral regeneration ; that the sinful disposition 
of men can be subdued only by love ; that evil 
can be exterminated from the earth only by good- 
ness ; that it is not safe to rely upon an arm of 
flesh, upon man whose breath is in his nostrils, to 
preserve us from harm ; that there is great security 
in being gentle, harmless, long-suffering, and 
abundant in mercy ; that it is only the meek who 
shall inherit the earth, that the violent who resort 
to the sword are destined to perish with the sword. 
Hence, as a measure of sound policy — of safety to 
property, life and liberty — of public quietude and 
private enjoyment — as well as on the ground of 
allegiance to Him who is King of Kings and 
Lord of Lords, we cordially adopt the non-resis- 
tance principle ; being confident that it provides 
for all possible consequences, will ensure all things 
needful to us, is armed with omnipotent power, and 
must ultimately triumph over every assailing force. 

"We advocate no Jacobinical doctrines. The 
spirit of Jacobinism is the spirit of retaliation, 
violence, and murder. It neither fears God nor 
regards man. We would be filled with the spirit 
of Christ. If we abide by our principles, it is 
impossible for us to be disorderly, or plot treason, 
or participate in any evil work ; we shall submit 
to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake ; 
obey all the requirements of Government, except 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 83 



such as we deem contrary to the commands of the 
gospel ; and in no case resist the operation of law, 
except by meekly submitting to the penalty of 
disobedience. 

"But, while we shall adhere to the doctrine of 
non-resistance and passive submission to enemies, 
we purpose, in a moral and spiritual sense, to 
speak and act boldly in the cause of God ; to 
assail iniquity, in high places and in low places ; 
to apply our principles to all existing civil, political, 
legal and ecclesiastical institutions ; and to hasten 
the time when the kingdoms of this world will have 
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His 
Christ, and He shall reign for ever. 

"It appears to us a self-evident truth, that, what- 
ever the gospel is designed to destroy at any period 
of the world, being contrary to it, ought now to be 
abandoned. If, then, the time is predicted when 
swords shall be beaten into ploughshares, and 
spears into pruning-hooks, and men shall not learn 
the art of war any more, it follows that all who 
manufacture, sell or wield those deadly weapons, 
do thus array themselves against the peaceful 
dominion of the Son of God, on earth. 

"Having thus briefly, but frankly, stated our 
principles and purposes, we proceed to specify the 
measures we propose to adopt, in carrying our 
object into effect. 

" We expect to prevail through the Foolishness 
of Preaching — striving to commend ourselves 
unto every man's conscience, in the sight of God. 
From the Press, we shall promulgate our senti- 
ments as widely as practicable. We shall endea- 
vour to secure the co-operation of all persons, of 
whatever name or sect. The triumphant progress 
of the cause of Temperance and of Abolition in 
our land, through the instrumentality of benevolent 
and voluntary associations, encourages us to com- 



84 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



bine our own means and efforts for the promotion 
of a still greater cause. Hence, we shall employ 
lecturers, circulate tracts and publications, form 
societies, and petition our State and national 
governments, in relation to the subject of Univer- 
sal Peace. It will be our leading object to devise 
ways and means for effecting a radical change in the 
views, feelings, and practices of society, respecting 
the sinfulness of war and the treatment of enemies. 

" In entering upon the great work before us, we 
are not unmindful that, in its prosecution, we may 
be called to test our sincerity, even as in a fiery 
ordeal. It may subject us to insult, outrage, 
suffering, yea, even death itself. We anticipate 
no small amount of misconception, misrepresenta- 
tion, calumny. Tumults may arise against us. 
The ungodly and violent, the proud and Phari- 
saical, the ambitious and tyrannical, principalities 
and powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places, 
may combine to crush us. So they treated the 
Messiah, whose example we are humbly striving 
to imitate. If we suffer with Him, we know that 
we shall reign with Him. We shall not be afraid 
of their terror, neither be troubled. Our confi- 
dence is in the Lord Almighty, not in man. 
Having withdrawn from human protection, what 
can sustain us but that faith which overcomes the 
world ? We shall not think it strange concerning 
the fiery trial which is to try us, as though some 
strange thing had happened unto us ; but rejoice 
inasmuch as we are partakers of Christ's sufferings. 
Wherefore, we commit the keeping of our souls to 
God, in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator. 
For Every One that forsakes Houses, or 
Brethren, or Sisters, or Father, or Mother, 
or Wife, or Children, or Lands, for Christ's 
Sake, shall receive a Hundred Fold, and 
shall inherit everlasting llfe. 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 85 



" Firmly relying upon the certain and universal 
triumph of the sentiments contained in this De- 
claration, however formidable may be the oppo- 
sition arrayed against them — in solemn testimony 
of our faith in their divine origin — we hereby affix 
our signatures to it ; commending it to the reason 
and conscience of mankind, giving ourselves no 
anxiety as to what may befall us, and resolving 
in the strength of the Lord God calmly and meekly 
to abide the issue." 

It was decided that the Society should be known 
as the " New England Non-Resistant Society/' as 
" the term peace had become equivocal by usage, 
and did not convey to the mind all that the Gospel 
really embodies in it." 

Several members of the Convention Committee, 
including S. J. May and E. Quincy, were unable, 
at first, to accept the declaration of sentiments in 
its entirety. The following letter from E. Quincy 
shows the conscientious and thorough way in 
which the question was thought out. E. Quincy 
joined the Society three months later : — 

" My Dear Garrison, My unwillingness to be 
left out of the band of generous spirits who are 
joined with you in the holy work of disseminating 
what I hold to be true Christianity, makes me 
submit to you these brief considerations. My 
chief present objection to signing the Declaration 
of Sentiments and Constitution is, that I conceive 
them to amount not only to a renunciation of civil 
government and the false principles on which it 
rests, but of every thing connected with it and 
sanctioned by it. Now, I utterly repudiate the 
whole of the man-killing, God- defying rights of 
power and bloodshed which that system assumes to 
have ; but there are certain things originating in 
government, and sanctioned by it, which I think 
are innocent, and may be innocently used. For 



86 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



example, I do not see how one who assents to the 
principles laid down in their unqualified extent can 
receive or pass a bank bill, which is a promise of a 
corporation created by government, depending 
upon it, and enforced by it by physical power in 
the last resort. So with coined money : it bears 
the image and superscription of human govern- 
ment, and is guarded by severe laws. Now I 
cannot think it sinful to recognise government so 
far as to take or give away money. So an insur- 
ance company is a creature of government, and he 
who takes out a policy of insurance may call in 
the strong arm of the law, if his due be not accorded, 
to him : but I cannot think it wrong to pay a 
premium of insurance, and receive the money in 
case of loss. To sue for it and compel payment 
is another thing. So the various instruments by 
which property is transferred or arranged involve 
the ultimate resort to force ; but I cannot believe 
that every mortgage, deed, lease, contract, bond, 
etc., etc., is necessarily a sinful recognition of the 
man-killing, injury-resisting principle. 

" I grant that the resort to force is never to be 
had, but the injury to be submitted to and forgiven. 
But the ordinary and innocent business of life can 
no more be carried on without these contrivances 
than it can without money ; and I hold that a 
man giving or taking them without the intention of 
appealing to force at the inception, and without 
actual resort to it at the conclusion of such con- 
tracts, no more recognises the vicious principles of 
government than he does who takes or passes 
money. I might mention a variety of other things 
if I had time to think of them, which, though re- 
cognised by, originating in, and sustained by 
government, I must think indifferent, and to 
involve no sacrifice of the non-resistant principle 
in him that has to do with them — provided he 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 87 



never actually resorts to the force provided for him, 
and never intends to do so. I take it the sinfulness 
of connexion with any of these things consists in 
the thought of violence, and in the act of violence ; 
and that he who never harbours the one or executes 
the other, is innocent of an undue compliance with 
the law of force. 

" Now, my dear friend, I felt that by signing 
those instruments — i.e., the Declaration and 
Constitution — cordially agreeing as I did with the 
spirit, I might lay a snare for my conscience, and 
find on consideration that the sentiments and 
principles to which I should subscribe were not my 
sentiments, and were principles by which I could 
not live. Now you may see so clearly through 
these matters that you may feel no scruple about 
these things, and may not hold that these are 
legitimate inferences from the principles laid 
down — but so do not I. 

" Now if the Declaration and Constitution can 
be so altered in phraseology as to say to this effect, 
that no man can innocently sue or defend a suit 
at law, or enter into any contract sanctioned by 
government which rests ultimately on physical 
force, with the thought of violence in his heart, and 
can never resort to the power provided for him, 
I can sign them both with all my heart. Whether 
this can consistently be done or not you will have 
my heart and prayers with you, and all that I can 
do by word and deed to assist you in your heavenly 
work " (vol. ii., pp. 234, 235, 236). 

To S. May, Garrison wrote : — " The verbal 
amendments that have been made, I think will be 
very satisfactory to you . . . The Declaration 
closes in the following strain . . . This instrument 
contemplates nothing, repudiates nothing, but the 
spirit of violence in thought, word and deed. 
Whatever, therefore, may be done without pro- 



88 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



voking that spirit, and in accordance with the 
spirit of disinterested benevolence, is not touched 
or alluded to in the instrument. The sum total 
of the affirmation is this — that, the Lord helping 
us, we are resolved, come what may, as Christians, 
to have long-suffering towards those who may 
despitefully use and prosecute us — to pray for 
them — to forgive them, in all cases. This is 1 the 
head and front of our offending ' — nothing more, 
nothing less " (vol. ii., pp. 236, 237). 

And again to W. Benson : " We shall not have 
a great and sudden rush into our ranks ! There are 
few in this land, in this world, who will be able to 
abide by the principles we have enunciated ; 
though there may be many whose consciences 
must assent to their correctness. I see before us 
many trials through which we shall doubtless be 
called upon to pass, if we are faithful to our testi- 
mony. But let none of these things move us, or 
deter us from going forward. The Lord God is our 
sun and shield — our strength and our defence " 
(vol. ii., p. 237). 

As a natural result of this Peace agitation a con- 
siderable portion of the Liberator was now devoted 
to the subject of Non-resistance. This, of course, 
called forth fresh protests, and it soon became 
evident that, if justice was to be done to the cause 
of Non-resistance without prejudice to that of 
abolition, the Non-resistance Society must possess 
a separate organ of its own. It was accordingly 
decided to issue, at the commencement of the 
next year, a journal entitled the Non-Resistant. 

The steady advance of abolition sentiment was 
now beginning to make itself evident at the polls. 
Resolutions were passed by various Anti-Slavery 
Societies, declaring that abolitionists should vote 
for no man not opposed to slavery, and should vote 
for immediate emancipationists irrespective of 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 89 



party. Some abolitionists were even in favour 
of forming a separate Anti-Slavery political party. 
To this, however, Garrison was always steadily 
opposed, relying on moral rather than political 
means for the accomplishment of his purpose. The 
aggressive attitude of the South was, indeed, the 
chief agent in making abolition a political question. 

Difficulties and opposition still beset the editor 
of the Liberator. The financial position of the paper 
became daily more embarrassing, Knapp's affairs 
at length assuming such a precarious aspect, that 
Jackson, E. Quincy, W. Basset and O. Johnson 
were constrained to come to the rescue, and under- 
take the supervision of the finances, and the 
charge of the business correspondence. 

Colonisationists and clergy were still busy cir- 
culating aspersions of Garrison's character, calling 
him " infidel," " Sabbath-breaker," " enemy of 
the Christian religion," and " violator of all law, 
both human and divine." To these charges, Francis 
Jackson replied at some length, in a private 
letter, from which we quote the following : — 

" I would remark at the outset, that I believe 
the overthrow of slavery to be the greatest moral 
question of the age ; that it is the undoubted right 
and the conscientious duty of all to unite their 
efforts for its immediate extermination ; and that 
in order to insure unity of action, it is proper for 
each so far to respect the religious and political 
views of all as to move forward with harmony and 
energy in one unbroken rank. As a humble mem- 
ber of this great body of the true friends of the 
slave, I have endeavoured, I trust, to adhere to 
this rule in good faith. I do not therefore, know, 
except incidentally, or accidentally, what are the 
religious or political opinions of those with whom I 
am proud to be associated. Nor do I know what 
Mr. Garrison's religious views are, but I do verily 



90 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



believe him to be a meek and humble follower of 
Christ, sincerely desiring to know and endeavouring 
to do the will of God. In short, I do not know a 
more thorough and consistent Christian. I am aware 
that many would exclaim with surprise, What ! 
do you pronounce him to be a Christian without 
knowing his religious opinions ? How do you arrive 
at such a conclusion ? Answer : In the same man- 
ner that I judge of a tree — ' by its fruits/ . . . 

" Mr. Garrison, I am told, holds it to be lawful 
to do good on the Sabbath ; he would, as far as he 
had the power, heal the * withered arm ' on that 
day, or the withered souls, which (it grieves me to 
say it) professing Christians as well as others in our 
land have ruined. His doctrine is not that we 
should keep the Sabbath less holy, but we should 
keep it and all other days more so. 

" An enemy of the Christian religion ! If this 
charge had read — an enemy to hypocrisy under the 
garb of the Christian religion, it would have been 
true ; as it stands it is wholly untrue. He is a 
distinguished ornament of the Christian religion. 
You cannot read any of his works without seeing 
that his mind and heart are deeply penetrated by 
faith in the gospel. 

" A disturber of the peace of Society ! This is true 
in the sense that Christ and the apostle Paul dis- 
turbed the peace of society in their day, by the doc- 
trines they proclaimed. It is true in no other sense. . . 

" His character is not only spotless, but has never 
been impeached. Those who would slander him do 
prudently in making their charges thus vague . . . 
It is not Mr. Garrison that violates the laws of God ; 
it is his opponents that do this, for which they are 
made to feel most keenly the scorching severity of 
his rebukes. Of him it has been aptly said, that 
he severs at a blow what others would be a great 
while in §awing off " (vol. ii., pp. 250, 251, 252). 



CHAPTER V 



All the hostile attacks hitherto made upon the 
Liberator had failed to shake the position or influ- 
ence of its editor. The development of his non- 
resisting principles — affecting, as they did, his atti- 
tude towards the government and political action — 
now put into the hands of his opponents a more 
powerful weapon, of which they were not slow to 
avail themselves. 

The leader of the next attack was H. B. Stanton, 
a member of the New York executive committee. 
He, in conjunction with certain clerical brethren, 
now sought, as Garrison expressed it, " to make 
it a moral and religious duty for every abolitionist, 
entitled to vote, to go to the polls ; and, if he 
refused on any ground whatever, then to brand him 
as a recreant to the cause of the slave " (vol. ii., p. 
260). As the editor of the Liberator was now com- 
mitted to the doctrine of non-resistance, it was 
hopeless to expect from its columns any true or 
useful expression of opinion on the duty of voting — 
therefore, it was argued, a new paper must be 
started to supply the need. 

Much secret plotting was carried on among the 
Anti-Garrisonites, but their schemes, being known 
to Garrison and his friends, were promptly exposed 
in the columns of the Liberator. 

The following, from a letter by Wendell Phillips, 
published in the Liberator, gives a good idea of the 
situation, and of the estimation in which the paper 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



was held, even by many of those who differed from 
the editor on the subject of non-resistance. 

" I regard the success of the Liberator as identical 
with that of the abolition cause itself. Though so 
bitterly opposed, it does more to disseminate, 
develop and confirm our principles than any other 
publication whatever . < . Almost all the opposi- 
tion it has met with, various as it seems, springs 
from one cause . . . The real cause of this opposi- 
tion, in my opinion, is the fundamental principle 
upon which the Liberator has been conducted : 
that rights are more valuable than forms ; that 
truth is a better guide than prescription ; that no 
matter how much truth a sect embodies, no matter 
how useful a profession may be, no matter how 
much benefit a form of government may confer, 
still they are all but dust in the balance when 
weighed against the protection of human rights, 
the discussion and publication of great truths ; 
that all forms of human device are worse than 
useless when they stand in truth's way. These are 
its principles ; frank, fearless, single-heartedness, 
the utmost freedom of thought and speech, its 
characteristics. If we fail to impress these on 
each abolition heart, our efforts are paialysed and 
our cause lost. Pride of settled opinion, love of 
lifeless forms, undue attachment to sect, are its 
foes. 

u With the fullest charity for all conscientious 
scruples and dissenting, as I do, from the Peace 
views of the Liberator, I cannot see how their 
discussion, conducted in a Christian spirit and with 
sincere love of truth, can offend the conscience of 
any man. Limited to a brief space, as it is, it can 
have no effect on the general character of the paper. 
I mean to give it all my influence, to gain it the 
confidence, and pour its spirit into the mind of 
every one I can reach. I shall esteem it a privilege 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 93 



to second your efforts. The danger I most dread 
is, to have our cause fall under the control of any 
party, sect or profession. That way ruin lies. The 
chiefest bulwark against it I know of is the Libera- 
tor. Success to it ! May it have the cordial sup- 
port of every abolition heart " (vol. ii., pp. 263, 
264, 265). 

Stanton's attempts to entrap Garrison into a 
public condemnation of political action — and to 
pass resolutions at the anti-slavery meetings to the 
effect that voting was a duty, binding upon all 
abolitionists, were frustrated ; nevertheless, there 
was a growing opposition to the non-resistant 
views of the Editor of the Liberator. 

To the charge that those who refused to vote 
were recreant to the principles embodied in the 
" Declaration of Sentiments " of the Anti-Slavery 
Society, Garrison replied : " As men, as citizens, 
as Christians, we confess that we have advocated 
the heaven-originated cause of Non-resistance, 
and shall continue to do so, until we are convicted 
of error — but not as abolitionists. And yet the 
non-resistance theory is embodied in the Anti- 
Slavery Constitution and Declaration of Senti- 
ments, the two instruments being admitted by 
Birney to be of equal weight. When he says of 
this theory — ' Our wives, our daughters, our 
sisters, our mothers, we are to see set upon by 
the most brutal without any effort on our part 
except argument to defend them ; and even 
they themselves are forbidden to use, in defence of 
their purity, such powers as God has endowed 
them with for its protection, if resistance should 
be attended with injury or destruction to the 
assailant/ he simply echoes what the Declaration 
enjoins upon the slave. As against the principles 
of the Revolutionary fathers, ' ours/ it says, 
* forbid the doing of evil that good may come ' ; 



94 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



while the Constitution pledges the Society * never, 
in any way, to countenance the oppressed in vin- 
dicating their rights by a resort to physical force/ 
The non-resistants alone obey this to the letter, 
and yet are bade get out, or ' amend the Constitu- 
tion.' Assuredly, the founders did not all appre- 
ciate what they were doing when they subscribed 
to this doctrine : ' All this I readily admit.' What 
I mean to say is, that, by a strict and fair con- 
struction of the instruments above alluded to, 
Non-resistance is more especially enjoined upon 
abolitionists than the duty of using the elective 
franchise f} (vol. ii., pp. 303, 304). 

So also wrote David Lee Child : "for myself, I 
have never been able to conceive of any principles 
on which slaves can be discountenanced in resorting 
to physical force, except that of total abstinence 
from all violence" (vol. ii., p. 304, note). 

" I repeat," continued Garrison, " as the stirring 
conviction of my heart, and the logical deduction 
of my understanding, that non-resistance is de- 
stined to pour new life-blood into the veins of 
abolition — to give it extraordinary vigour — to 
clothe it with new beauty — to inspire it with holier 
feelings — to preserve it from corruption — though 
not necessarily connected with it " (vol. ii., p. 305). 

At length a formal secession took place — on the 
occasion of the re-assertion of the right of female 
membership — and a new Massachusetts' Abolition 
Society was formed, — its avowed object being " to 
disconnect the abolition cause from its encum- 
brances," and the formation of a third (anti-slavery) 
party was strongly advocated. Garrison's views 
on the subject of the formation of an Anti-slavery 
political party are well expressed in the following 
extract : — 

" Abolitionists ! You are now feared and re- 
spected by all political parties — not because of the 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 95 



number of votes you can throw, so much as in view 
of the moral integrity and sacred regard to principle 
which you have exhibited to the country. It is 
the religious aspect of your enterprise which im- 
presses and overawes men of every sect and party. 
Hitherto, you have seemed to be actuated by no 
hope of preferment or love of power, and therefore 
have established, even in the minds of your enemies, 
confidence in your disinterestedness. If you shall 
now array yourselves as a political party, and hold 
out mercenary rewards to induce men to rally 
under your standard, there is reason to fear that 
you will be regarded as those who have made the 
anti-slavery cause a hobby to ride into office, 
however plausible or sound may be your pretexts 
for such a course. You cannot, you ought not to 
expect that the political action of the State will 
move faster than the religious action of the church, 
in favour of the abolition of slavery; and it is a fact, 
not less encouraging than undeniable, that both 
Whig and Democratic parties have consulted the 
wishes of abolitionists even beyond the measure 
of their political strength. More you cannot 
expect, under any circumstances " (vol. ii., p. 312). 

In January, 1839, appeared the first number of 
the " Non-Resistant " bearing as its motto the 
words : " Resist not Evil. Jesus Christ/' 

Although Garrison was on the editorial com- 
mittee, most of the work connected with the paper 
devolved upon the other two members, Mrs. 
Chapman, and E. Quincy. The year 1839 saw 
the final dissolution of the partnership of Garrison 
and Knapp, the duties of the latter being now 
assumed by a committee, while Garrison retained 
his position as editor. 

Throughout the following year, the old struggle 
continued between those who still held to the 
original immediate emancipationist principles and 



96 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



modes of action, and the " New Organisation " and 
third party, who now sought to convert the exist- 
ing Anti-slavery organisation into a political 
machine. 

Meanwhile, Garrison and his friends experienced 
great joy at the receipt of a letter, from the Rev. 
Charles Fitch, author of the first " clerical appeal " ; 
from which we extract the following : — 

" Dear Sir, — Herewith I attempt the discharge 
of a duty to which I doubt not that I am led by the 
dictates of an enlightened conscience, and by the 
influences of the Spirit of God. I have been led, 
of late, to look over my past life, and to inquire 
what I would think of past feelings and actions, 
were I to behold Jesus Christ in the clouds of 
heaven, coming to judge the world, and to estab- 
lish His reign of holiness and righteousness 
and blessedness over the pure in heart. 

" From such an examination of my past life, I 
find very much, even in what I have regarded as 
my best actions, deeply to deplore ; but especially 
do I find occasion for shame and self-loathing and 
deep humiliation before God and man, when I see 
in what multiplied instances the ruling motive 
of my conduct has been a desire to please men, 
for the sake of their good opinion. In seeking the 
promotion of good objects, I have often acted with 
this in view ; but I feel bound in duty to say to 
you, Sir, that to gain the good- will of man was the 
only object I had in view in everything which I 
did relative to certain writings called ' Clerical 
Appeal/ I cannot say that I was conscious at the 
time, certainly not as fully as I am now, that this 
was the motive by which I was actuated ; but as I 
now look back upon it, in the light in which it has 
been of late spread before my own mind, as I doubt 
not by the Spirit of God, I can clearly see that, in all 
that matter, I had no true regard for the glory of 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



God or the good of man. I can see nothing better 
in it than a selfish and most wicked desire to gain 
thereby the good opinion of such men as I sup- 
posed would be pleased by such movements ; while 
I can clearly see that I did not consult the will of 
God or the good of my fellow men in the least, 
and did indulge towards yourself and others and 
towards principles which I now see to be according 
to truth, feelings which both my conscience and my 
heart now condemn, which I know a holy God 
never can approve, and which I rejoice to think He 
never will approve " (vol. ii., pp. 335, 336). 

The following resolutions passed by the Mas- 
sachusetts Anti-Slavery Society bear testimony to 
the strong feeling which prevailed among the true 
emancipationists against the orthodox clergy and 
churches : — 

' 'Resolved, that no man who apologises for slavery 
or refuses to bear an open, and faithful pulpit testi- 
mony against it, or who neglects to exert his moral 
and official influence in favour of the cause of human 
freedom and the rights of his enslaved fellow men, 
can have the least claim to be regarded as a minister 
of Him who came to preach deliverance to the cap- 
tives, and the opening of the prison to them that 
are bound ; and that for Abolitionists to recognise 
such men as ministers of Christ, or to aid in sup- 
porting them as such, is as inconsistent with their 
principles, and must be displeasing to God, as it 
would be for them to support in that capacity a 
slaveholder, or an open defender of slavery. 

" Resolved, that no association of men can have 
any just claim to be considered a church of Jesus 
Christ which withholds its sympathy and aid from 
the oppressed, or which either refuses or neglects 
to bear its testimony against the awful sin of 
slavery ; and that Abolitionists are bound by the 
holy principles they profess, and by their regard 

Q 



98 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



for the rights of their enslaved and imbruted 
fellow-men, to withhold their support from such 
associations, and to endeavour to bring the mem- 
bers of them to repentance for the sin of stopping 
their ears to the cry of the poor " (vol. ii., p. 337). 

At Lynn, resolutions were passed declaring 
" that the indifference or open hostility to anti- 
slavery principles and measures of most of the 
so-called religious sects, and a great majority of 
the clergy of the country constitutes the main 
obstruction to the progress of our cause " (vol. ii., 
p. 338). 

Even the Society of Friends came in for a share 
of well deserved censure. 

" Resolved, that the Society of Friends, by 
shutting its meeting houses against the advocates 
of the slave, and by its un-Christian attempts to 
restrain the freedom of such of its members as are 
Abolitionists, has forfeited all claim to be regarded 
as an anti-slavery society, and practically identi- 
fied itself with the corrupt pro-slavery sects of the 
land " (vol. ii., p. 338). 

The controversy concerning women's right to 
speak and take part in public affairs was revived 
by an invitation from the newly formed British 
and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, to a general 
conference of " the friends of the slave in every 
nation and every clime." The call to this " World's 
Convention," to be held in London in June, 1840, 
received a warm response from the American Anti- 
Slavery Societies, which, at once, proceeded to the 
election of the representatives. These, of course, 
included Garrison and several of the most distin- 
guished female members of the Societies. 

The influence of the New Organisation, however, 
speedily made itself manifest in a second call from 
the English Society expressing a desire to receive 
the names of the gentlemen who were to represent 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



the Anti-Slavery Societies. Joseph Sturge, the 
founder of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery 
Society, also wrote deprecating the sending of 
female delegates, and desiring that it might be 
discouraged, as it would encounter a strong adverse 
feeling in England, from which country there would 
be no female representatives. Notwithstanding 
this rebuff, the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery 
Society proceeded to elect representatives. One 
of these, Lucretia Mott, had also been chosen to 
represent the American Society, and therefore 
went in a double capacity, thus testing to the full 
the Convention's disposition to " fully and practi- 
cally recognise, in its organisation and movements, 
the equal brotherhood of the entire Human Family, 
without distinction of colour, sex or clime, " to quote 
from one of the resolutions of the American 
Society (vol. ii., p. 353). 

The necessity of attending the anniversary 
meeting of the Massachusetts Society prevented 
Garrison from starting at the same time as the other 
delegates, w T ith the result that the Convention was 
half over before he reached London. The Women's 
battle had, therefore, to be fought out without his 
assistance. They had, however, a staunch cham- 
pion in Wendell Phillips, who, at once, raised the 
question of women's right to a seat in the Conven- 
tion. The English Committee resolved, " that the 
subject having been brought seriously and de- 
liberately before the committee on the 15th May, 
it was unanimously determined that ladies were 
inadmissible as delegates, and it is now again 
resolved, without a single dissentient voice, that 
this opinion be confirmed and respectfully com- 
municated to the parties in question " (vol. ii., p. 
368). 

Wendell Phillips then protested that they " had 
come to a Convention which would, of course ? 



ioo WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



settle the qualification of its own members/ ' upon 
which he was assured that, although termed a 
World's Convention, it was, in fact, merely a con- 
ference with the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery 
Society, which, therefore, had the right of deciding 
whom it would admit. 

Nevertheless Phillips persisted in bringing the 
question before the Convention, whereupon a long 
and animated debate ensued, resulting in the ex- 
clusion of the female delegates. 

The Convention had but three more days to sit 
when Garrison arrived in London. Learning what 
had taken place, and seeing that it was now too 
late to re-open the question, he and his two com- 
panions resolved to take no part in the Convention 
from which women were excluded. Remon- 
strances and entreaties alike failed to shake his 
resolution, and the founder of the greatest anti- 
slavery movement in the world remained a silent 
witness of the World's Convention. 

Doubtless this silent protest was not without 
result. Harriet Martineau wrote to Mrs. Chap- 
man : — 

u Garrison was quite right, I think, to sit in the 
gallery of the Convention. I conclude you think 
so. It has done much, I am persuaded. You will 
live to see a great enlargement of our scope of use- 
fulness, I trust, but, what with the vices of some 
women and the fears of others, it will be hard work 
to assert our liberty. I will, however, till I die — 
and so will you — and so make it easier for some 
few to follow . . . The information brought out 
at the Convention will do good, I have no doubt, 
but the knowledge we have obtained of the obvious 
deficiencies of the members, in the very principles 
they came to advocate, will surely do more M 
(vol. ii, p. 378). 

And Dr. Bowring, who had spoken at the Con- 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 101 



ference in favour of the admission of women, sub- 
sequently wrote to Garrison : — 

" How often have I regretted that this subject 
was launched with so little combination — so little 
preparation — so little knowledge of the manner 
in which it had been entangled by the fears of some 
and the follies of others. But bear up ! for the 
coming of those women will form an era in the 
future history of philanthropic daring. They 
made a deep, if not a wide impression, and have 
created apostles if as yet they have not multitudes 
of followers. The experiment was well worth 
making. It honoured America — it will instruct 
England. If in some matters of high civilisation 
you are behind in this matter of courageous ben- 
evolence how far you are before us ! My grateful 
affections are with them and you " (vol. ii., p. 378). 

Daniel O'Connell's views were thus expressed in 
a letter to Lucretia Mott, afterwards published in 
the Irish Liberator : — 

" I readily comply with your request to give my 
opinion as to the propriety of the admission of the 
female delegates into the Convention. 

" I should premise by avowing, that my first 
impression was strong against that admission, and 
I believe I declared that opinion in private con- 
versation. But when I was called upon by you to 
give my personal decision on the subject, I felt it 
my duty to investigate the grounds of the opinion 
I had formed ; and upon that investigation I easily 
discovered that it was founded upon no better 
grounds than an apprehension of the ridicule it 
might excite, if the Convention were to do what 
is so unusual in England — to admit women to an 
equal share and right of discussion. I also, without 
difficulty, recognised that this was an unworthy, 
and indeed cowardly motive, and I easily overcome 
its influence. 



102 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



" My mature consideration of the entire subject 
convinces me of the right of the female delegates 
to take their seats in the Convention, and of the 
injustice of excluding them. I do not care to add 
that I deem it also impolitic ; because, that ex- 
clusion being unjust, it ought not to have taken 
place even if it could also be politic " (vol. ii., p. 
379). 

The World's Convention probably did more for 
the cause of women than for that of the slave. 
" The woman question/' wrote Garrison, to his 
wife, "has been fairly started, and will be can- 
vassed from the Land's End to John O'Groat's 
House. Already, many excellent and noble minds 
are highly displeased at the decision of the Conven- 
tion and denounce it strongly 99 (vol. ii., p. 382). 

Perhaps the best work done by the Convention 
in the abolition cause was its frank denunciation of 
the attitude of the American churches in relation 
to slavery. 

After spending two or three weeks in London, 
Garrison and his American friends made a tour of 
England, Scotland and Ireland, everywhere re- 
ceiving an enthusiastic welcome. During this 
visit, Garrison, ever alive to the needs of suffering 
humanity, made some keen observations of English 
customs and of the condition of the people. He 
was especially struck by the contrast between the 
luxurious wealth of the upper classes and the abject 
poverty of the masses. " Slavery out of the ques- 
tion," he wrote, " our country is a century in ad- 
vance of England on the score of reform, and of 
general intelligence and morality. We, in New 
England, scarcely dream of the privileges we enjoy, 
and the enviable condition in which we are placed, 
as contrasted with the state of things here " (vol. 
ii., p. 384). 

And again : " I could not enjoy the beautiful 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 103 



landscapes of England, because of the suffering and 
want staring me in the face on the one hand, and 
the opulence and splendour dazzling my vision on 
the other M (vol. ii., p. 401, note). 

His faithfulness in rebuking evil of every kind, 
wherever it presented itself, may be gathered 
from the following extracts from his correspon- 
dence : — 

" On going to the meeting, accompanied by a few 
friends, I observed a person standing at the door 
of the chapel, distributing copies of a small placard 
or handbill. I took one, perused it, put it into my 
pocket, and resolved to read it to the meeting, 
without consulting anyone — not even George 
Thompson, who sat at my right hand on the plat- 
form. In the course of my speech, I read it to the 
meeting in a deliberate and emphatic manner, as 
well as I knew how ; which favour was probably 
not expected by its author, who signed himself, 
most inaccurately and improperly, ' A White 
Slave/ . . . 

" The placard was headed, ' Have we no white 
slaves ? ' After reading the interrogation, I said 
in reply : ' No : — broad as is the empire, and ex- 
tensive as are the possessions of Great Britain, not 
a single white slave can be found in them all ' ; and 
then I went on to show the wide difference that 
exists between the conditions of human beings who 
are held and treated as chattels personal, and that 
of those who are only suffering from certain forms 
of political injustice or governmental oppression 
... * But/ I said, ' although it is not true that Eng- 
land has any white slaves, either at home or abroad, 
is it not true that there are thousands of her popu- 
lation, both at home and abroad, who are deprived 
of their just rights — who are grievously oppressed — 
who are dying, even in the midst of abundance, 
of actual starvation ? ' Yes, and I expressly called 



104 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, 



upon British Abolitionists to prove themselves the 
true friends of suffering humanity abroad, by 
showing that they were the best friends of suffering 
humanity at home. I asked ' Are they not so ? 1 
The response to this inquiry, from various parts of 
the chapel, was ' No ! No ! ' ' Then/ I said, ' I am 
very sorry to hear it — I hope it is not true of all of 
them — I am sure it is not. true of the Abolitionists 
of the United States, for they sympathise with 
the oppressed, as well as the enslaved, through- 
out the world.' More I also said to the same 
effect. 

" They (the operatives and labourers of Great 
Britain and Ireland) are in a deplorable condition, 
and should have prompt and ample redress given 
their wrongs. It was because of my deep sym- 
pathy with them, because I had understood that 
many of those who were so ready to denounce 
American slavery, refused to give any countenance 
to measures at home for the relief and elevation 
of the labouring classes, and I wished to rebuke 
them — that I read to the Glasgow audience the 
placard signed ' A White Slave/ I did not stop 
to inquire of any of those who surrounded me on 
the platform, whether it would be politic for me 
to read it ; for I was resolved to make it of some 
service, both to my enslaved countrymen at home, 
and to my suffering brethren in England " (vol. ii., 
pp. 399, 4oo.) 

" We ' sifted into 9 the minds of those with whom 
we came in contact, all sorts of ' heresies ' and 
' extraneous topics/ in relation to Temperance, 
Non- Resistance, Moral Reform, Human Rights, 
Holiness, etc., etc. 

" On the subject of Non- Resistance, I had very 
much to say in England, Scotland and the Emerald 
Isle ; especially in view of the monuments and 
statues erected in honour of naval and military 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 105 



warriors, and of the numerous castles, and forts, 
and arsenals, and armed troops, which were every- 
where to be seen . . . Some converts were made 
before our departure, and many minds are labour- 
ing with the great question. As the Temperance 
cause is somewhat unpopular in England, and the 
great mass of abolitionists there are in the daily 
habit of using wine, porter and other intoxicating 
liquors, I said much privately and publicly in 
favour of total abstinence, and rebuked them 
faithfully for their criminal indulgence. In short, 
I did what I could for the redemption of the human 
race " (vol. ii., p. 409, 410). 

(" His declining the wine proffered at William 
Ashurst's led the latter to ask Mr. Garrison's 
reasons for such a departure from usage. The 
discussion which ensued ended, upon further reflec- 
tion, in Mr. Ashurst's becoming a total abstainer on 
principle " (vol. ii., p. 410, note). 

Garrison's interest in the cause of temperance is 
exemplified by the following — from a letter to Mrs. 
Garrison : — 

" Among the meetings it has been my happiness 
to attend, was a temperance meeting in Exeter Hall 
(the largest and most enthusiastic I ever saw), at 
which that sturdy champion of Irish Liberty, and 
most wonderful among the statesmen and orators 
of the age, Daniel O'Connell, made a powerful 
speech in favour of the doctrine of total abstinence. 
He was received with a storm of applause that 
almost shook the building to its foundations. The 
spectacle was sublime and heart-stirring beyond 
all power of description on my part. George 
Thompson, N. P. Rogers and myself addressed the 
immense concourse, and were flatteringly received. 

" It has also been my privilege to attend a 
similar meeting in Edinburgh. On arriving in 



io6 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



this city on Tuesday afternoon, and carelessly 
walking through the streets, I observed placards 
conspicuously posted in various directions, stating 
that George Thompson, C. L. Remond and W. L. 
Garrison were in the city and would be present at a 
temperance meeting that evening, and address the 
auditory ! Though I had not been consulted by 
anyone on the subject, and was wholly taken by 
surprise, yet I felt that I could not, as a professed 
friend of bleeding humanity, as a thorough ' tee- 
totaller ' of fourteen years' standing, as an American 
citizen, refuse to lift up my voice in favour of the 
first great moral enterprise which I ever publicly 
espoused — especially as I was told that, as yet, in 
Scotland, it had made comparatively small pro- 
gress, and was generally treated by ' gentlemen of 
property and standing/ and the priesthood, very 
much as the anti-slavery cause is by those classes 
in the United States. Our friends Thompson, 
Rogers and Remond accompanied me to the 
meeting, and made excellent speeches. A glorious 
sight it was to behold ! There were about two 
thousand persons present — and never was there 
assembled, on any occasion, a more interesting or 
enthusiastic multitude. On our entering the hall 
they received us with cheers and deafening applause 
which were renewed as we severally proceeded to 
make our addresses. You may form some faint 
idea of the spirit which animated the crowded 
assembly, when I tell you that the meeting com- 
menced at seven o'clock in the evening, and did not 
disperse till two o'clock in the morning ! There 
was no appearance of fatigue or drowsiness to the 
end, except on the part of sundry little children and 
infants, who quietly slept in their mothers' arms " 
(vol. iL, pp. 396, 397). 

On his return to America, speaking at a meeting 
convened by the coloured people of Boston to wel- 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 107 



come their friend and champion back to his native 
land, Garrison thus exhorted them : — 

" Now I want the coloured people to sympathise 
with all who need their sympathy. I want them to 
call on British Abolitionists to sympathise with the 
oppressed and suffering classes in their own land. 
I beseech them to put forth the finger of warning 
and entreaty to their British friends, in view of all 
the sufferings of those at hand, even at their doors. 
I call upon the coloured people to support every 
unpopular reform the world over — to pity and 
plead for the poor oppressed Irishmen ; for all who 
suffer, whether at the South, or on the British 
shores, or in India. We should, as nations, recip- 
rocate rebukes. And as we send our souls to 
theirs, freighted with reproof and exhortation, let 
them meet on the deep, and embrace as angel 
spirits, and pass on. When they rebuke our mani- 
fold national sins, let us also be faithful in rebuking 
theirs, and then we shall have cancelled the 
debt " (vol. ii., p. 408). 



CHAPTER VI. 



In the autumn of 1840, a meeting of the friends 
of Non-resistance was held at Chardon St. Chapel, 
to consider the expediency of calling a " convention 
to examine the validity of the views which gener- 
ally prevail in this country as to the Divine appoint- 
ment of the first day in the week as a Christian 
Sabbath, and to inquire into the origin, nature 
and authority of the institutions of the ministry 
and the church, as now existing " (vol. ii., p. 422). 

Although his name did not appear in the call 
that followed, in the eyes of the public, and especi- 
ally of the New Organisation, the editor of the 
Liberator was at the bottom of this new heretical 
movement. His own feeling on the subject was 
thus expressed in a letter to his brother-in-law. 

" The call for the Sabbath, ministerial and 
Church Convention, is beginning to make a mighty 
stir among the priesthood, and even to fill with 
dismay some of our professed anti-slavery friends. 
Cowards ! Not to know that truth is mightier 
than error, and that it is darkness, and not light, 
that is afraid of investigation. Several of our 
subscribers have already discontinued their papers 
on account of the publication of the call in the 
Liberator, and more, I suppose, will soon follow 
their example. The New Hampshire Panoply, 
. . . etc., etc., are out in full blast about it. They 
attribute it all to me, of course ; some of them 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 109 



insisting that my name is appended to the call. 
You will see in the next Liberator what they have 
said. This will be the occasion of a fresh attack 
on my devoted head, and also upon the Liberator, 
to crush it. But truly none of these things disturb 
me " (vol. ii., p. 424). 

The Convention, which sat for three days without 
arriving at any definite result, confined its atten- 
tion to the question of the Sabbath. 

Although Garrison opposed the proposition that 
the Convention should " adopt the Old and New 
Testaments as the only authentic record of faith 
and duty," nevertheless he " emphatically 
remarked, more than once, that he did not see how 
those who rejected the Scriptures as of divine 
authority, could properly take part in the dis- 
cussion, for what did we know in regard to the 
Sabbath except from the Bible ? " "At the 
opening of the Convention, and on various occa- 
sions during the discussion/ ' to use his own words, 
" I expressly declared that I stood upon the Bible, 
and the Bible alone, in regard to my views of the 
Sabbath, the Church and the Ministry— and that I 
felt if I could not stand triumphantly on that 
foundation, I could stand nowhere in the universe. 
My arguments were all drawn from the Bible and 
from no other source " (vol. ii., p. 425). 

Garrison took the negative side in the second 
proposition : " That the first day of the week is 
ordained by divine authority as the Christian Sab- 
bath/' on the ground that the institution of the 
Sabbath had been abrogated by the coming of 
Christ. 

The New Organisation, ever ready to discredit 
Garrison in the eyes of the Abolitionists, at home 
or abroad, thus reported the event to his friends 
in London, N. Colver, the author of the letter con- 
taining this statement, had himself taken part in 



no WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



the Convention on precisely the same terms as 
Garrison, both had participated " as invited and not 
as inviters, and as strenuous defenders of the Bible 
doctrine in regard to the Sabbath — as each inter- 
preted it for himself " (vol. ii., p. 429). 

" William L. Garrison's influence/' he wrote, 
" is on the wane. He so identifies himself with 
every infidel fanaticism which floats, as to have 
lost his hold upon the good. He has recently 
headed a Convention to inveigh against the Sab- 
bath, the Church and the Ministry. It was affect- 
ing to see what a company he had identified himself 
with — the wildest of the no-marriage Perfection- 
ists, Trancendentalists, and Cape Cod — all in 
harmonious effort against the Bible as our standard 
of faith, and especially in denouncing the ministry, 
etc, I think the anti-slavery cause will ultimately 
shake itself from that which has been a source of 
great trouble" (vol. ii., p. 429). 

To the assertion : " Garrison has just headed an 
infidel Convention," contained in a previous letter 
by the same writer, Garrison replied : — 

" Every word, every syllable of this sentence is 
untrue. No such Convention has been held. I 
am as strongly opposed to infidelity (as that term is 
commonly understood) as I am to priestcraft and 
slavery. My religious sentiments (excepting as 
they relate to certain outward forms and obser- 
vances — and respecting these I entertain the views 
of ' Friends ') are as rigid and as uncompromising 
as those promulgated by Christ Himself. The 
standard which He has erected is one that I rever- 
ence and advocate. In a true estimate of the 
divine authority of the Scriptures, no one can go 
beyond me. They are my text-book, and worth 
all other books in the universe. My trust is in God, 
my aim to walk in the footsteps of his Son, my 
rejoicing to be crucified to the world, and the 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. in 



world to me. So much for the charge of ' infi- 
delity ' " (vol. ii., p. 431). 

During the year 1841, Garrison was especially 
active as a lecturer in the anti-slavery cause. The 
following account of an address delivered by him 
at Nantucket will give some idea of his marvellous 
power as a speaker. The narrator, Frederick 
Douglass, was a fugitive slave, henceforth to shine 
as an orator among the many excellent speakers 
in the anti-slavery ranks. 

" It was with the utmost difficulty," writes 
Douglas, " that I could stand erect, or that I 
could command and articulate two words with- 
out hesitation and stammering. I trembled in 
every limb. I am not sure that my embar- 
rassment was not the most effective part of my 
speech, if speech it could be called. At any rate, 
this is about the only part of my performance 
that I now distinctly remember. The audience 
sympathised with me at once, and, from having 
been remarkably quiet, became much excited. 
Mr. Garrison followed me, taking me as his text ; 
and now, whether / had made an eloquent plea in 
behalf of freedom, or not, his was one, never to be 
forgotten. Those who had heard him oftenest and 
known him longest, were astonished at his masterly 
effort. For the time he possessed that almost 
fabulous inspiration, often referred to but seldom 
attained, in which a public meeting is transformed, 
as it were, into a single individuality, the orator 
swaying a thousand heads and hearts at once, and, 
by the simple majesty of his all-controlling thought, 
converting his hearers into the express image of his 
own soul. That night there were a thousand 
Garrisonians in Nantucket " (vol. iii., pp. 18, 19). 

Another eye witness reports : — 

" When the young man (Douglass) closed, late 
in the evening, though none seemed to know or to 



ii2 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



care for the hour, Mr. Garrison rose to make the 
concluding address. I think he never before, nor 
afterwards, felt more profoundly the sacredness of 
his mission or the importance of a crisis moment 
to his success. I surely never saw him more 
deeply, more divinely, inspired. The crowded 
congregation had been wrought up almost to 
enchantment during the whole long evening, par- 
ticularly by some of the utterances of the last 
speaker, as he turned over the terrible Apocalypse 
of his experiences in slavery. 

" But Mr. Garrison was singularly serene and 
calm. It was well that he was so. He only asked 
a few simple, direct questions. I can recall but 
few of them, though I do remember the first and 
the last. The first was : " Have we been listening 
to a thing, a piece of property, or to a man ? " 
" A man ! A man ! " shouted fully five hundred 
voices of men and women. " And should such a 
man be held a slave in a republican and Christian 
land ? M was another question. " No, no ! Never, 
never ! " again swelled up from the same voices, 
like the billows of the deep. But the last was this : 
1 Shall such a man ever be sent back to slavery from 
the soil of old Massachusetts ? " — this time uttered 
with all the power of voice of which Garrison was 
capable, now more than forty years ago. Almost 
the whole assembly sprang with one accord to 
their feet and the walls and roof of the Athenaeum 
seemed to shudder with the * No, no ! ' loud and 
long-continued in the wild enthusiasm of the scene. 
As soon as Garrison could be heard, he snatched 
the acclaim, and superadded; : ' No ! — a thousand 
times no ! Sooner let the lightnings of heaven 
blast Bunker's Hill monument till not one stone 
shall be left standing upon another ! ' " (vol. hi., 
p. 19, note). 

During a week's tour in New Hampshire, under- 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 113 



taken at the urgent request of N. P. Rogers, who 
had set his heart on showing the beauties of his 
native state to his friend Garrison, a characteristic 
incident occurred, which is also worth relating. 

"As we rode through the Notch after friends 
Beach and Rogers, we were alarmed at seeing 
smoke issue from their chaise-top, and cried out to 
them that their chaise was afire. We were more 
than suspicious, however, that it was something 
worse than that, and that the smoke came out 
of friend Rogers' mouth. And so it turned out. 
This was before we reached the Notch tavern. 
Alighting there to water our beasts, we gave 
him, all round, a faithful admonition. For 
anti-slavery does not fail to spend its intervals 
of public service in mutual and searching correction 
of the faults of its friends. We gave it soundly to 
friend Rogers — that he, an Abolitionist, on his way 
to an anti-slavery convention, should desecrate 
his anti-slavery mouth, and that glorious mountain 
Notch, with a stupefying tobacco weed. As we 
crossed the little bridge, friend Rogers took out 
another cigar as if to light it. ' Is it any malady 
you have got, brother Rogers," said we to him, 
' that you smoke that thing, or is it habit and 
indulgence merely ? 1 * It is nothing but habit/ 
said he, gravely, ' or, I would say, it was nothing 
else/ and he significantly cast the little roll over the 
railing into the Ammonoosuck. ' A revolution ! ' 
exclaimed Garrison, ' a glorious revolution without 
noise or smoke/ and he swung his hat cheerily 
about his head. It was a pretty incident, and we 
joyfully witnessed it and as joyfully record it. It 
was a vice abandoned, a self-indulgence denied, 
and from principle. It was quietly and beautifully 
done. We call on any smoking Abolitionist to take 
notice and take pattern " (vol. hi., p. 22). 

This period of striking intellectual activity 

H 



H4 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



was marked by numerous attempts to realise in 
practice the new views of truth that were stirring 
men's souls. Conspicuous among these efforts 
after a more brotherly manner of life were Noyes' 
religious community, " Brook Farm/' and the 
Hopedale Community. Several of the leading 
Abolitionists showed a strong leading towards 
some form of communal life. Not so Garrison — 
and, in general, he evinced much less inclination to 
adopt any extreme views than many of his coad- 
jutors. We even find him, at this time, putting a 
check upon some of the extreme and sweeping 
assertions introduced into the resolutions of the 
Anti-Slavery Societies. 

The close of this year witnessed a new attack on 
the Liberator. Isaac Knapp, whose habits of in- 
temperance, gambling and idleness rendered him 
unfit to perform his duties as publisher, complained 
that he had been unfairly deprived of his share in 
the paper, and declared his intention of starting a 
" true Liberator, under the title of Knapp 1 s Libera- 
tor'' The prime movers in this scheme were three 
men, more capable, and more hostile than poor 
Knapp, who, using him as their tool, sought, by 
this means, to injure the Liberator and its editor. 
Only one issue of the new paper ever appeared. 

An address of the Irish people to their country- 
men and country-women in America on the subject 
of slavery, exhorting them to treat the coloured 
people as equals and brethren, and to unite every- 
where with the Abolitionists, awakened great hopes 
in the abolition mind of securing the adherence of 
the Irish Americans to their cause. Notwith- 
standing that the list of 60,000 names appended 
to the address was headed by that of Daniel 
O'Connell, and included those of Father Mathew, 
and other influential men, it failed to arouse any 
widespread enthusiasm among the Irish-American 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 115 



population. The Irish Press threw discredit upon 
the address, and Bishop Hughes, of New York, the 
foremost Catholic prelate in America, not only 
called in question its genuineness, but also declared 
it to be the duty of every naturalised Irishman to 
resist and repudiate it, whether genuine or not. 
So the great mass of Irish-Americans continued to 
support the slave power and even went so far in 
Philadelphia, as to attack the coloured population, 
and destroy a hall erected by them for public 
meetings. 

The chief question of interest during the next 
two or three years was the dissolution of the Union. 
There was a growing feeling that slavery would not 
be abolished until the North withdrew its support 
from the slave states, that is until the Union was 
dissolved. This view was held very strongly by 
Garrison, who stigmatised the guilty compromise 
between the free and slave-holding states as a 
" Covenant with Death," and " An agreement with 
Hell." 

The question was, of course, freely discussed in 
the various Anti-Slavery Societies. Such resolu- 
tions as the following show the view taken by 
Garrison and many other Abolitionists. 

" Resolved, that the Union of Liberty and Slavery 
in one just and equal compact, is that which is not 
in the power of God or man to achieve, because 
it is a moral impossibility, as much as the peaceful 
amalgamation of fire and gunpowder ; and, there- 
fore, the American Union is such only in form, but 
not in substance — a hollow mockery instead of a 
glorious reality. 

" Resolved, that if the South be madly bent upon 
perpetuating her atrocious slave system, and there- 
by destroying the liberty of speech and of the Press, 
and striking down the rights of Northern citizens, 
the time is rapidly approaching when the American 



n6 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



Union will be dissolved in form as it is now in 
fact " (vol. hi., p. 46). 

Throughout the year 1842, the editorial column 
of the Liberator was headed by the declaration : 
" A repeal of the Union between Northern liberty 
and Southern slavery is essential to the abolition 
of the one and the preservation of the other/ ' 
And the American Anti-Slavery Society adopted 
as its motto the words : " No Union with slave- 
holders " (vol. hi., p. 56). 

Much of the work connected with the Liberator 
devolved, at this time, upon Edmund Quincy and 
Mrs. Chapman, owing to the ill-health of the editor. 
Returning from a lecturing tour to find his children 
suffering from scarlet fever, he himself was speedily 
attacked by the same disease in a severe form. 
Before his strength was fully restored other com- 
plaints showed themselves, and he was again ren- 
dered unfit for work. 

In addition to these troubles, the sad conclusion 
of his brother's tragic life cast a shadow over 
Garrison's home. For many years Garrison heard 
nothing of his elder brother James, who, as a lad, 
had left home for a sea-faring life ; and, when at last 
the brothers met, intemperance and a series of 
almost incredible hardships had reduced the elder 
to a broken wreck. Having obtained his release 
from the navy (disease had rendered him practically 
useless) Garrison took his long lost brother home, 
and sought by every means in his power to restore 
him to some degree of health, but all his efforts 
were in vain. Life-long habits of intemperance 
proved too strong to be overcome, and, after 
lingering another three years, James Garrison 
passed away. 

Although slavery was the most frequent topic 
of the many addresses delivered during these 
years, other subjects were by no means neglected. 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



117 



Capital punishment was now added to the list, 
which already included temperance, peace, the 
church, worship, the Sabbath and the rights of 
women. Of the increased enlightenment of 
Garrison's theological views we have evidence in 
his review of a recent edition of Tom Paine's 
theological works. 

" Of the millions who profess to believe in the 
Bible as the inspired word of God," he wrote, 
u how few there are who have had the wish or the 
courage to know on what grounds they have formed 
their opinion ! They have been taught that to 
allow a doubt to arise in their minds on this point 
would be sacrilegious, and to put in peril their 
salvation. They must believe in the plenary 
inspiration of the ' sacred volume,' or they are 
' infidels,' who will justly deserve to be 1 cast into 
the lake of fire and brimstone/ Imposture may 
always be suspected when reason is commanded 
to abdicate the throne ; when investigation is made 
a criminal act ; when the bodies or spirits of men 
are threatened with pains and penalties if they do 
not subscribe to the popular belief ; when appeals 
are made to human credulity, and not to the 
understanding. 

" Now, nothing can be more consonant to reason 
than that the more valuable a thing is, the more 
it will bear to be examined. If the Bible be, from 
Genesis to Revelation, divinely inspired, its warmest 
partisans need not be concerned as to its fate. 
It is to be examined with the same freedom as any 
other book, and taken precisely for what it is 
worth. It must stand or fall on its own inherent 
qualities, like any other volume. To know what 
it teaches, men must not stultify themselves, nor 
be made irrational by a blind homage. Their 
reason must be absolute in judgment, and act 
freely, or they cannot know the truth. They are 



n8 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



not to object to what is simply incomprehensible — 
because no man can comprehend how it is that 
the sun gives light ; or the acorn produces the oak ; 
but what is clearly monstrous or absurd, or im- 
possible, cannot be endorsed by reason, and can 
never properly be made a test of religious faith, or 
an evidence of moral character. 

" To say that everything contained within the 
lids of the Bible is divinely inspired, and to insist 
upon the dogma as fundamentally important, is 
to give utterance to a bold fiction, and to require 
the suspension of the reasoning faculties. To say 
that everything in the Bible is to be believed simply 
because it is found in that volume is equally absurd 
and pernicious. It is the province of reason to 
' search the Scriptures/ and determine what in 
them is true, and what false — what is probable 
and what incredible — what is historically true, 
and what fabulous — what is compatible with the 
happiness of mankind, and what ought to be 
rejected as an example or rule of action — what is 
the letter that killeth, and what the spirit that 
maketh alive. When the various books of the 
Bible were written, or by whom they were wiitten, 
no man living can tell. This is purely a matter of 
conjecture ; and as conjecture is not certainty, it 
ceases to be authoritative. Nor is it of vast con- 
sequence, in the eye of reason, whether they to 
whom the Bible is ascribed wrote it or not ; whether 
Paul was the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews 
or of any other Epistle which is attributed to him ; 
whether Moses wrote the Pentateuch, or Joshua 
the history of his own exploits, or David the 
Psalms, or Solomon the Proverbs ; or whether the 
real authors were some unknown persons. ' What 
is writ, is writ/ and it must stand or fall by the 
test of just criticism, by its reasonableness and 
utility, by the probabilities of the case, by historical 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 119 



confirmation, by human experience and observa- 
tion, by the facts of science, by the intuition of the 
spirit. Truth is older than any parchment, and 
would still exist though a universal conflagration 
should consume all the books in the world. To 
discard a portion of Scripture is not necessarily 
to reject the truth, but may be the highest evidence 
that one can give of his love of truth " (vol. iii., pp. 
145, 146, 147). 

These two further quotations will be of interest 
as throwing light on the gradual development of 
Garrison's views with regard to the Bible. At 
the age of twenty-six, he wrote : — 

" Take away the Bible, and our warfare with 
oppression, and infidelity, and intemperance, and 
impurity and crime is at an end ; our weapons are 
wrested away — our foundation is removed — we 
have no authority to speak, and no courage to 
act " (vol. i., p. 266). 

Two years later some of the Abolitionists, object- 
ing to Garrison's statement that " every American 
citizen who holds a human being in involuntary 
bondage as his property, is a man-stealer," sub- 
stituted the words " is according to Scripture a 
man-stealer." 

To this alteration, Garrison objected that it took 
the " edge off " the allegation, instead of strength- 
ening it. " It raises a Biblical question. It makes 
the rights of man depend upon a text. Now, 
it matters not what the Bible may say, so far as 
these rights are concerned. They never originated 
in any parchment, are not dependent upon any 
parchment, but are in the nature of man himself, 
written upon the human faculties and powers by 
the finger of God " (vol. i., p. 407, note). 

The proposed annexation of Texas caused con- 
siderable stir in political as well as Abolitionist 
circles; many who were quite content with the 



120 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



Union as it then existed, being unwilling to allow 
of the great accession of power to the South which 
would necessarily result from the admission to the 
Union of Texas, in which it was proposed to re- 
establish slavery. In January, 1845, an Anti- 
Texas Convention, called by political gentlemen, 
— mostly Whigs — not by Abolitionists, was held at 
Faneuil Hall. Of this Convention, Edmund Quincy 
writes : " The anti-slavery spirit of the Convention 
was surprising. The address and the speeches of 
the gentlemen, not Abolitionists, were such as 
caused Garrison to be mobbed ten years ago, and 
such as we thought thorough three or four years 
ago " (vol. hi., p. 137). 

A State Anti-Texas Committee being formed, 
Garrison consented to become a member/' as an 
experiment and to help more clearly to demon- 
strate the futility of any and every attempt to 
assail slavery in its incidents and details. The 
Slave Power" continued Garrison, " must be 
attacked and vanquished openly, as such, and no 
quarter given to it either in the gross or in part. 
To this conclusion, we are happy to say, the Com- 
mittee unanimously came ; and this is a sign of 
the times of no ordinary significance. In what 
mode it is best to assail that power, the Committee 
could not as unanimously agree ; but we are every 
hour more deeply convinced that there is but one 
mode and one alternative presented to the people 
of the free states, and that is, to have no religious 
nor political union with slave-holders. On this ground 
we stand ready to unite again with Whigs, Demo- 
crats and Liberty men ; but on nothing short of 
this can we see any utility in attempting to make 
effectual resistance to the encroachments of 
slavery" (vol. iii., pp. 142, 143). 



CHAPTER VII. 



In 1846, Garrison was induced to undertake a 
third mission to England. The immediate cause 
of this visit was the unsatisfactory conduct of the 
Free Church of Scotland in relation to the Southern 
churches of America. The Free Church, having 
but recently seceded from the Established Church 
of Scotland, found itself straitened for want of 
funds. An appeal was made to the Presbyterian 
churches in America ; to this appeal the churches 
of Charleston responded with especial liberality, 
accompanying their contribution by eloquent 
expressions of sentiment on the subject of 
" tyranny and oppression.' ' Much to the Free 
Church's confusion, this transaction was referred 
to by a Glasgow editor, who exposed the " flashy 
highsounding, unmeaning words " of the Charleston 
preacher, and expressed a hope that the blood- 
stained money would be immediately returned. 

But for this course the Free Church was not pre- 
pared, the result being that it found itself practi- 
cally committed to a defence of American slavery. 

Garrison was strongly urged to visit Great 
Britain and take part in the Anti-Slavery agitation 
to which this incident gave rise. Four months 
were spent in the old country, renewing old friend- 
ships and forming new ones, lecturing and discus- 
sing temperance, non-resistance and all his other 
" heresies." 

During this visit an Anti-Slavery League was 



122 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



formed to co-operate with the American Anti- 
Slavery Society. Its articles declared : — 

1. — " That slave-holding is, under all circum- 
stances, a sin of the deepest dye, and ought imme- 
diately to be abandoned. 

2. — " That the members of this League shall 
consist of all persons subscribing to the foregoing 
principles, without respect of country, complexion, 
or religious or political creeds. 

3. — " That the sole object of the League shall be 
the overthrow by means exclusively moral and 
peaceful, of slavery in every land, but with special 
reference to the system now existing in the United 
States " (vol. hi., pp. 159, 160). 

Throughout the Mexican war, — the great event 
of 1847, — the Abolitionists continued to urge the 
necessity of a peaceful dissolution of the Union. 

Invited by the Abolitionists of Ohio to visit their 
part of the country, Garrison decided to make a 
lecturing tour in that State, taking New York and 
Pennsylvania en route. The extreme fatigue, 
occasioned by incessant travelling and lecturing, 
culminated in a severe attack of fever, from the 
effects of which he did not recover for several 
months. 

The abolition cause still continued to make 
steady progress, the Mexican war giving rise to 
much discussion in Congress on the subject of 
slavery. 

An Anti-Sabbath Convention, originated by 
Garrison and Wendell Phillips, met in March, 1848, 
in Boston. The following extract from the call to 
this Convention, written by Garrison, is specially 
worthy of notice : — 

" In publishing this call for an Anti-Sabbath 
Convention, we desire to be clearly understood. 
We have no objection either to the first or the 
seventh day of the week as a day of rest from bodily 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 123 



toil, both for man and beast. On the contrary, 
such rest is not only desirable, but indispensable. 
Neither man nor beast can long endure unmitigated 
labour. But we do not believe that it is in harmony 
with the will of God, or the physical nature of man, 
that mankind should be doomed to hard and 
wasting toil six days out of seven to obtain a bare 
subsistence. Reduced to such a pitiable condition, 
the rest of one day in the week is indeed grateful, 
and must be regarded as a blessing ; but it is 
totally inadequate wholly to repair the physical 
injury or the moral degradation consequent on 
such protracted labour. It is not in accordance 
with the law of life that our race should be thus 
worked, and only thus partially relieved from 
suffering and a premature death. They need more 
and must have more, instead of less rest ; and it is 
only for them to be enlightened and reclaimed — to 
put away those things which now cause them to 
grind in the prison-house of Toil, namely, idolatry, 
priestcraft, sectarianism, slavery, war, intemper- 
ance, licentiousness, monopoly, and the like — in 
short, to live in Peace, obey the eternal law of 
being, strive for each other's welfare, and ' glorify 
God in their bodies and spirits which are His ' — 
and they will secure the rest, not only of one day in 
seven, but of a very large portion of their earthly 
existence. To them shall be granted the mastery 
over every day and every hour of time, as against 
want and affliction ; for the earth shall be filled 
with abundance for all " (vol. hi., pp. 224, 225). s 
One other extract from the writings of this 
period is too interesting to be passed over, revealing 
as it does much that is characterisitic in the minds 
of two leading men. All Garrison's efforts to come 
into touch with Dr. Channinghad, as we have seen, 
failed, owing to the unresponsive attitude of the 
doctor. The reading of " Channing's Memoirs " 



124 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



now led Garrison to modify somewhat his former 
harsh criticism, — his maturer judgment is ex- 
pressed in the following words : — 

" My impressions of Dr. Channing were that he 
was somewhat cold in temperament, timid in spirit 
and oracular in feeling. But these have been 
greatly, if not entirely, removed by the perusal 
of this memoir. I see him now in a new phase — in 
a better light. He certainly had no ardour of soul, 
but a mild and steady warmth of character appears 
to have been natural to him. I do not now think 
that he was timid, in a condemnatory sense ; but 
his circumspection was almost excessive, his 
veneration large, and distrust of himself, rather 
than fear of others, led him toappear to shrink from 
an uncompromising application of the principles 
he cherished. In the theological arena he exhibited 
more courage than elsewhere ; yet, even there, he 
was far from being boldly aggressive, for con- 
troversy was not to his taste. In striving to be 
catholic and magnanimous, he was led to apologise 
for those who deserved severe condemnation. He 
was reluctant to believe that men sin wilfully, and 
therefore, preferred to attack sin in the abstract 
than to deal with it personally. He was ready to 
condemn the fruit, but not the tree ; for, by a 
strange moral discrimination, he could separate 
the one from the other. Hence, his testimonies 
were not very effective. In the abstract the vilest 
of men are willing to admit that their conduct is 
reprehensible ; but, practically, they demand 
exemption from condemnation . . . 

" He saw with great clearness, and deplored 
with much sincerit}', the horrors of slavery and the 
injustice of slave-holding ; but he did not like to 
hear slave-holders denounced, and regarded many 
of them as worthy of Christian recognition . . . 
No one ever seemed to be more deeply convinced of 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 125 



the iniquitous and desolating nature of war than 
himself ; he was fervent in his pleas for peace ; 
yet he held to the right of fighting in what is 
falsely called self-defence, and therefore failed to 
lay the axe at the root of the tree. It was so in 
his treatment of all other popular sins and sinners. 
He either lacked true moral discrimination, or 
stern integrity to principle. 

" I believe he was a sincere man, and true to 
his own convictions of duty. I think, as far as he 
saw the light, he was disposed to walk in the light, 
however great the peril or startling the conse- 
quences. He had in an eminent degree self-respect, 
which kept him from self-degradation by wilfully 
doing that which he knew to be wrong. His 
Memoir impresses me with a deep sense of his 
purity and uprightness . . . 

" We must judge him by the position that he 
occupied ; we must compare him with others who 
moved in the same sphere of life ; otherwise, we 
shall be liable to undervalue his merits. He was 
a clergyman, — an office which it is scarcely possible 
for any man to fill without loss of independence, or 
spiritual detriment. In his case, it seems to have 
been merely technical, though he might have made 
it subservient to personal ambition and selfishness, 
as thousands of others have done. That he did not 
do so is something to his credit . . , 

" Again — he moved in a wealthy and aristocratic 
circle, or rather was surrounded by those who are 
the last to sympathise with outcast humanity, or 
to believe that any good can come out of Nazareth. 
To write and speak on the subject of slavery as 
he did — unsatisfactory as it was to the Abolition- 
ists, who yearned to have him take still higher 
ground, was — in his position, an act of true heroism 
and of positive self-sacrifice ; and, for a time — 
extending almost to the hour of his death — cost 



126 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



him the friendship of many whose good opinions 
nothing but a sense of duty could induce him to 
forfeit . . . 

" Much to my regret I had no personal acquain- 
tance with this remarkable man, though I longed 
for at least a single interview. But the Liberator 
was not to his taste, and my manner of conducting 
the anti-slavery enterprise seemed to him harsh, 
repulsive, and positively injurious. As he never 
expressed a wish to converse with me, I did not 
feel free to intrude myself upon his notice. For 
twelve years he saw me struggling against all that 
was evil in the land — in a cause worthy of universal 
acclaim — with fidelity and an unfaltering spirit — 
but during all that time he never conveyed to me, 
directly or indirectly, a word of cheer, or a whisper 
of encouragement. Consequently we never met 
for an interchange of sentiments. Had we done 
so, though there is no probability that we should 
have seen eye to eye in all things, we might have 
been mutually benefited. I am sure that he mis- 
judged my spirit, as well as misapprehended the 
philosophy of the anti-slavery reform ; and now 
I think that I did not fully appreciate the difficul- 
ties of his situation, or the peculiarities of his mind. 
His mistake was — it amounted almost to infatua- 
tion — in supposing that a national evil like that of 
slavery, two centuries old, which had subdued to 
itself all the religious and political elements and 
which held omnipotent sway over the land, could 
be overthrown without a mighty convulsion, or 
even much agitation, if wisely and carefully treated. 
He thought that it was the manner and spirit of 
the Abolitionists, and not the object they sought to 
accomplish, that so greatly excited the countiy, 
especially the Southern portion of it ; and so, to 
set them a good example — to show them how 
easily they might propitiate the slave-holders, 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 127 



while pleading for the emancipation of their slaves 
— he wrote his work on slavery, the circulation of 
which was deemed incendiary at the South, and 
the publication of which caused General Waddy 
Thompson, of South Carolina, to exclaim, on the 
floor of Congress, that ' Dr. Channing was playing 
second fiddle to Garrison and Thompson/ This 
was an instructive experiment to the Doctor, and 
he did not fail to profit by it " (vol. iii., pp. 239, 240, 
241, 242). 

It will be remembered that conspicuous among 
the names attached to the Irish Address, of 1842, 
was that of Father Mathew, the great apostle of 
Temperance. Consequently, when this professed 
friend of the slave visited America, in the interests 
of the temperance cause, it was but natural that 
the Abolitionists should confidently expect some 
public expression of sympathy with the work 
of emancipation. So a letter inviting him to 
attend a meeting about to be held in commem- 
oration of the abolition of slavery in the British 
West Indies, was drawn up and signed by four 
of the leading Abolitionists. But it was one thing 
to condemn slavery in Ireland, where the people 
were universally in favour of emancipation, and 
quite another to show sympathy with the hated 
Abolitionists in America. Thus when Garrison 
and Dr. Bowditch called upon the great man, to 
welcome him to the shores, and deliver their invita- 
tion in pei son, — they were received with but scant 
couitesy. No woid of sympathy with their work 
escaped him — no stronger condemnation of slavery 
than this : " Oh, I am not in favour of slaveiy — I 
should never think of advocating it, though I don't 
know that we can say there is any specific injunc- 
tion against it in the Scriptures.' ' Finally he 
refused to be diverted from his own particular 
mission by committing himself, in any way, on the 



128 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



subject of slavery. The letter of invitation was 
never even answered. 

An account of this interview duly appealed in 
the Liberator. The Press took the subject up- — 
approving for the most part, or excusing Father 
Mathew' s conduct. The Father himself pieserved 
a disci eet silence. 

An open letter addressed to Father Mathew then 
appeared in the Liberator. In this the editor 
reminded him how he had called upon his fellow 
countrymen, " by the most sacred considerations, 
to use their moral and political power for the aboli- 
tion of slavery, and to join the Abolitionists, as the 
only true friends of freedom in the United States," 
and went on to ask, " What less, as a mark of their 
gratitude, respect and veneration, could the Aboli- 
tionists do, on your arrival here, than to thank you 
for the noble testimony borne by you at home 
against American slavery, and to signify to you 
the importance of your renewing that testimony 
on this side of the Atlantic ? " (vol. hi., p. 255). 

Four more letters followed, urging in the strong- 
est terms the importance of Father Mathew 
using his widespread influence on behalf of the 
slave, instead of strengthening the hands of 
theii oppressors. The fifth letter concluded 
thus : — 

" How your course is regarded by the cruel 
oppressors in the South, is plainly indicated by the 
exultation of the Press in that quarter. They are 
eager to give you the right hand of fellowship, and 
are lavish of their praises in your behalf. Such 
prudence, forecast, and wisdom, as you are dis- 
playing, in being dumb on the slavery question, 
they have always admired and commended. Yet 
they heartily despise you, beyond all doubt ; 
but the blow you have inflicted on the anti-slavery 
cause fills them with inexpressible delight. 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 129 



" It follows, 1 as the night the day/ that you 
have added to the anguish, horror and despair of 
the poor miserable slaves, made their yokes 
heavier, and fastened their chains more securely ! 
For, in a struggle like this, and at such a crisis, 
whatever gladdens the hearts of the slave-mongers 
must proportionately agonise those of their 
victims " (vol. iii., p. 258). 

The Press and Abolitionists of Great Britain also 
had much to say on the subject. Still Father 
Mathew made no sign — but continued his tour of 
the States, leceiving the attentions of slave 
holdeis, and advocates of slavery, without express- 
ing the least disapproval of their practices. 

The sudden death of one of Garrison's children, 
under exceptionally painful circumstances, called 
forth expressions of sympathy from many friends 
on both sides of the Atlantic. Among these was 
the English Quakeress, Elizabeth Pease, a constant 
correspondent of the leading Abolitionists. In the 
course of his reply to her letter of sympathy, 
Garrison, while confessing that the death of his 
boy had been a " staggering blow," gave expression 
to the following views on the subject of death : — 

" Death itself to me is not terrible, is not repul- 
sive, is not to be deplored. I see in it as clear an 
evidence of Divine wisdom and beneficence as I do 
in the birth of a child, in the works of creation, in 
all the arrangements and operations of nature. I 
neither fear nor regret its power. I neither expect 
nor supplicate to be exempted from its legitimate 
action. It is not to be chionicled among calami- 
ties ; it is not to be styled ' a mysterious dispensa- 
tion of Divine Providence ' ; it is scarcely rational 
to talk of being resigned to it. For what is more 
natural — what more universal — what more impar- 
tial — what more serviceable — what more desirable; 
in God's own time, hastened neithei by oui ignoi- 

1 



130 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



ance or our folly ? Discarding, as I do, as equally 
absurd and monstrous, the theological dogma that 
death settles for ever the condition of those who 
die, whether for an eternity of bliss or misery, for 
the deeds done here in the body — and believing, 
as I do, without wavering, in the everlasting 
progression of the human race, in the ultimate 
triumph of infinite love over finite error and sinful- 
ness, in the fatherly care and boundless goodness 
of that Creator ' whose tender mercies are over all 
the works of His hands/ I see nothing strange, 
appalling, or even sad in death " (vol. hi., p. 263, 
264). 

Elizabeth Pease was the recipient of anothei 
most interesting letter, from which we must quote 
at some length. Several articles had appeared in 
the Liberator, from the pen of H. C. Wright, and 
others, on the subject of the Bible. Although 
himself taking no part in the controversy, Garrison 
had manifested his sympathy with the more ad- 
vanced views and had avowed his disbelief in the 
inspiration of the Scriptures, in the Mosaic cos- 
mogony as being unscientific, and in the atonement. 
He regarded the Bible as " a mighty obstacle in the 
way of the reconciliation of the rival sects of the 
day," nor saw " how it could be taken out of the 
way so long as that Book is appealed to as absolute 
and final, in matters of faith and practice " (vol.iii., 
p. 266). 

This attack upon the B^ble greatly distressed 
some of Garrison's warmest supporters — E. Pease 
among the number. She confessed that t although 
the Liberator was the most interesting paper she 
received yet she felt it a serious thing to circulate it, 
while it contained so much " false doctrine.'* She 
even feared to leave copies of the paper about 
lest their perusal should impeiil the everlasting 
salvation of chance readers. 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 131 



" My Dear Friend/ * wrote Garrison in reply, 
" you and Henry Vincent are certainly wrong in 
this matter. You are troubled w T here you ought 
to be serene ; you are alarmed at what ought to 
make your repose perfect ; you are not acting 
naturally ; you occupy, in regard to these things, 
a sandy foundation ; and therefore your anxiety, 
trepidation, grief ! Come now let us reason 
together, and see if it be not so . . . 

" You do not dislike to see both sides of the 
slavery question presented ; and you would smile 
at the idea of secreting the Liberator because it 
contains many pro-slavery articles which might 
injuriously affect some minds. You are not 
troubled on seeing both sides of the peace and 
non-resistance question argued in its columns, 
but rejoice in proportion to the activity of its dis- 
cussion — do you not ? You are not alarmed when 
you see articles freely admitted, pro and con, into 
a publication on the subject of temperance. Neither 
you nor Henry Vincent would think of remon- 
strating against the utterance of sentiments in 
favour of religious intolerance, provided no gag 
were put into the mouths of the advocates of 
religious liberty. 

" But why are you willing that these things 
should be freely discussed ? Simply because you 
are persuaded that your views of Anti-slavery, 
peace, temperance, religious liberty, etc., are based 
on a solid foundation and cannot be successfully 
overthrown ; nay, the more they are attacked, 
the more truthful you think they will appear. 
Just so ! Hence you invite, solicit, demand the 
most thorough inquiry into their validity. But 
the slave-holder, the warrior, the rum- drinker, 
the bigot do not like to see their views on slavery, 
war, temperance and religious liberty brought into 
the arena of free debate ; they are one-sided, and 



132 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



dread nothing so much as a fair field and no 
quarter/' 

" Now, what is'true with regard to one subject or 
question is equally true in regard to every other. 
Whoever holds to an opinion or sentiment which 
he is not pleased to see dealt with boldly and 
searchingly, gives evidence that he is conscious 
that it will not bear such treatment, or that he has 
taken it upon trust, usage, parental, educational, 
traditional authority, and not upon his own clear- 
wrought, unbiassed convictions. Is it not so ? 
Who shall presume to say to another, in regard to 
the examination of any creed, book, ordinance, 
day or form of government — of anything natural 
or reputedly miraculous — ' Thus far shalt thou go 
but no farther ? 1 Beloved friend, are you not in 
just this state of mind, in regard to certain subjects 
the discussion of which you so much deplore ? 
How is this to be accounted for ? I will tell you. 

" You were born a member of the Society of 
Friends ; your religious opinions you received 
upon authority, and you accepted them as a matter 
of course, sincerely, trustingly, as I did mine, and 
nine-tenths of those who are born in Christendom 
do. Your theological views of man's depravity, 
the atonement, eternal punishment, the divinity 
of Christ, the inspiration of the Bible, etc., you 
received as confidently as you did your Quaker 
views of peace, anti-slavery, temperance, etc., 
only the latter you have advocated and carried 
out to an extent much beyond the ordinary teach- 
ings of Quakerism on these points. But the latter 
views are true, and susceptible of the clearest 
demonstration ; and their examination you court. 
The former are all wrong (in my judgment, I mean, 
though I was brought up to believe them), admit 
of no satisfactory proof, much less of demonstra- 
tion ; and a free examination of them gives you 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 133 



positive uneasiness ! Your peace and Anti- 
slavery views commend themselves to your under- 
standing, your conscience, and your heart ; per- 
haps you will discover that your theological views 
have really little to do with your understanding, 
your conscience or your heart, independently and 
absolutely, like the others — pardon my frankness — 
for if they had, it seems to me you would no more 
be startled to see an impartial discussion of them 
in the Liberator, or any other periodical conducted 
on the same principle, than you now are to see 
pro-slavery and anti-peace sentiments admitted 
into its columns along with those of an opposite 
spirit. Is there any flaw in this reasoning ? Is 
not the parallel perfect, the analogy exact, the 
illustration pertinent, the conclusion inevitable ? . . . 

" My worthy frend at comes rght to the 

pomt m her letter, of wlrch the follow 1 ' ng *s the 
introductory paragraph : — 

'My Dear Sir, I am sorry to say that I cannot 
read the Liberator any longer . . . Ever smce the 
Sabbath and Scripture questions were brought 
forward, I have read H only to mourn over it. I 
know the B^ble and the Author of H so well (?) 
that I have not any fears for my own sentiments 
be^ng injured. But I cannot put it into the hands 
of my family, because I consider its sentiments 
on these points calculated to bring forth the grapes 
of Sodom, and the apples of Gomorrah . . . ' 

" God forbid," proceeds Garrison, u that I should 
ever take such responsibility upon myself — that I 
should ever bring my children up in this onesided 
manner. The one distinct and emphatic lesson 
which I shall teach them is, to take nothing upon 
mere authority — to dare to differ in opinion from 
their father and from all the world — to understand, 
as clearly as possible, what can be said against or 
in favour of any doctrine or practice, and then 



134 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



to accept or reject it according to their own 
convictions of duty . . . 

" I beg you and my other English friends to bear 
constantly in your minds the fact, that the discus- 
sion of these questions has been forced upon us by 
the enemies of the anti-slavery and non-resistance 
movements. Their constant cry has been that 
we are desecrating the Sabbath in pleading the 
cause of the slave on that day, and mixing up 
secular with holy affairs , . . 

" Again, in opposing our non-resistance doc- 
trines, our opponents have resorted to the Bible, 
and thought to silence us by triumphantly referring 
to the exterminating wars recorded in the Old 
Testament as expressly commanded by Jehovah. 
It was not conclusive for us to reply, that what was 
obligatory once is not necessarily so now — that 
Christ has superseded Moses, and now forbids all 
war ; for the answer was : ' If, as you assert, war 
is, like slavery, idolatry and the like, inherently 
wrong, a malum in se, how could it be enjoined 
by a sin-hating God in the days of Moses, unless 
his moral character is mutable ? 1 Our answer to 
this is : Whoever or whatever asserts that the 
Creator has required, and may still require, one 
portion of his children to butcher another portion 
for any purpose whatever, is libelling His goodness, 
and asserting what everything in nature contra- 
dicts. This position we believe to be impregnable " 
(vol. iii., pp. 266, 267, 268-270). 

The scenes of 1835, when Garrison was nearly 
torn in pieces by a mob of Boston gentlemen, were 
like to have been re-enacted in New York in 1850. 
For a week before the anniversary meeting of the 
American Anti-salvery Society, the New York 
Herald contained a series of inflammatory articles, 
daily increasing in violence, inciting the populace 
to silence the Abolitionists. 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 135 



In accordance with these suggestions, Captain 
Rynders, a notorious bully, supported by a band 
of ruffians, sought to gain possession of the meeting. 
The calmness, self-possession and forbearance of 
the Abolitionists proved, however, more than a 
match for New York ruffianism, and the ready wit 
and eloquence of two coloured speakers secured a 
signal victory for the non-resistants. 

In 1850, the Northern States were again disturbed 
in their guilty compliance with the slave power by 
the passing of the Fugitive Slave Law. Prominent 
men, clergy as well as lay men, refused to obey the 
injunction to deliver up the fugitives, whom their 
masters were already hunting throughout the 
North. Active measures were taken to prevent 
their re-capture, and to facilitate the escape to 
Canada of the thousands of negroes, who now fled 
in terror from the ' free ' states. 

It was in the midst of this agitation that George 
Thompson landed at Boston, whence he had, with 
difficulty, made his escape fifteen years before. His 
eight months' visit to America enabled him to 
witness several attempts to enforce the Fugitive 
Slave Law, which was, in fact, the precursor of the 
Civil War. He was also present at the meeting held 
to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the 
Liberator, 

Garrison's interest in the position of women 
was again manifested, in connection with the 
Woman's Rights Convention, held at Worcester, 
Massachusetts in 1850. At a preliminary meeting 
in Boston, he spoke strongly in favour of the 
enfranchisement of women. 

"I am not pleading here," he said, " as one 
very fond of voting. I am a disfranchised man, 
not because I do not believe in voting, but because 
I cannot vote under the United States Constitu- 
tion, believing it to be unholy, knowing it to be a 



136 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



compromise with slavery ... I am just as anx- 
ious that women should be allowed to vote as if 1 
voted e\ery day. I hate the law that disfranchises 
women ! It is not for me or for any man dogmati- 
cally to judge as to what is or what is not a sinful 
act, or to say to others you shall not exercise the 
right to think for yourselves. 

" There is a law of the United States which says 
that no coloured man shall be enrolled in the Militia 
of this country. Now, I abhor the militia, I 
believe the whole military system is satanic. I 
do not want to see any black man enrolled in it. 
But I hate that law of Congress proscribing the 
coloured man on account of his colourjustaslloathe 
a rattle-snake. It is a proscriptive spirit that has 
made that exception. I want the coloured man to 
judge for himself whether he shall train or not. I 
want no opprobrium thrown upon him on account 
of his complexion. So with regard to women. I 
want the women to have the right to vote, and I 
call upon them to demand it perseveringly until 
they possess it. When they have obtained it, it 
will be for them to say whether they will exercise 
it or not . . . 

" I wish I could see one-half of the members 
of Congress women. I wish I could see one-half 
of the members of Legislature women. They are 
entitled to this. I am quite sure — I think I 
hazard nothing in saying — that the legislation of 
our country would be far different from what it 
is u (vol. iii., p. 310). 

Garrison subsequently attended, and took an 
active part in the Convention. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



In 1851, there landed in New York another dis- 
tinguished foreigner, who was destined, when 
tried by the abolition test, to be found wanting. 

The Hungarian patriot Kossuth had for some - 
years excited much sympathy in the United 
States, not least in the slave-holding portion of 
the Union. Already in 1849, Garrison had called 
attention to this " national hypocrisy/ ' He had 
also written of Kossuth : " He is strictly local, 
territorial, national. The independence of Hungary 
alone absorbs his thoughts and inspires his efforts; 
and to obtain it, he feels justified (i.e. by the laws 
of war) in disregarding the claims of humanity 
and suspending all the obligations of morality" 
(vol. iii., p. 340). Garrison wrote this, though not 
foreseeing that these words would exactly express 
Kossuth's relation to slavery and the Abolitionists, 
as soon as he consented to make his appeal to a 
slave-holding nation. 

In replying to the United States' offer of a vessel, 
by means of which he and his fellow exiles might 
effect their escape from Turkey, Kossuth had 
addressed his American sympathisers in such 
terms as these : — 

" May your great example, noble Americans, be 
to other nations the source of social virtues ; your 
power be the terror of all tyrants, the protector 
of the distressed, and your free country ever con- 



138 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



tinue to be the asylum of the oppressed of all 
nations " (vol. iii., p. 341). 

The Abolitionists, anticipating the inevitable 
result, if the Hungarian patriot accepted the hos- 
pitality of a nation of slaveholders, wrote to the 
friends of liberty in England, imploring them to 
open his eyes to the true state of affairs : " Save 
him, save him ! " wrote H. C. Wright. " Tell 
him of American slavery. He is lost to himself 
and the friends and cause of liberty in all coming 
time, if he lands on this slavery- cursed shore." 

"'Here lies Kossuth — the Americanslave holder/ 
must be his epitaph if he touches our shore ! " 
and again: "Slave catchers will do by him as they 
have done, successfully, by Theobald Mathew — 
avail themselves of his world-wide fame and 
influence to prop up American slavery " (vol. iii. 
pp. 342, 343). 

Accordingly, during Kossuth's visit to England, 
his friends and admirers in this country duly 
warned him of the dangers he would incur if his 
purpose of visiting America were carried into 
effect, copies of the Fugitive Slave Law and Weld's 
" Slavery as it is," being at the same time placed 
in his hands. 

Information and advice were alike unavailing — 
turning a deaf ear to these friendly warnings, 
Kossuth sailed for New York, — and, on his arrival, 
thus expressed his attitude towards America's 
" peculiar institution." 

" I take it to be the duty of honour and principle 
not to meddle with whatever party question of 
your own domestic affairs . . . May others de- 
light in the part of knight-errant for theories. 
It is not my case . . I am the man of the great 
principle of the sovereignity of every people to 
dispose of its own domestic concerns ; and I most 
solemnly deny to every foreigner, to every foreign 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 139 



power, the right to oppose the sovereign faculty " 
(vol. iii., p. 344). 

" The die is cast," wrote Garrison. " All 
speculation is now at an end as to the position 
Kossuth means to maintain on the slavery question 
in the United States. He means to be deaf, dumb 
and blind in regard to it ... It is not for him to 
1 meddle 1 with anything in this country — not even 
so far as to express an opinion. Oh, no ! But he 
enforces it upon us as a religious duty to interpose 
nationally for the liberation of Hungary, by 
threatening Austria and Russia that, if they do not 
stand aloof and let the Hungarians do as they 
please in the management of their own affairs, we 
will add to our threats blows, and let slip the dogs 
of war ! Beautiful consistency i O, this is 
pitiable ! " (vol. iii., p. 345). 

And again, in a " Letter to Louis Kossuth con- 
cerning Freedom and slavery in the United States/' 
one of his finest literary productions — Garrison 
traced the downfall of the Patriot. One short 
extract must serve as an example of his line of 
argument. 

M 1 The cause of the solidarity of human rights/ 
which you have come 1 to plead before the great 
republic of the United States ' is not Hungarian, 
but universal. A people who aim or desire to be 
saved at the expense, or to the detriment of any 
other, is undeserving of salvation. This land is 
too full of compromisers and trimmers to need 
your presence to teach us how to do evil that good 
may come. What we need, what the world de- 
mands, is, an illustrious example of fidelity to the 
principles of liberty in their application, not merely 
to one but to all races and lands. You cannot be 
too true to Hungary ; but you ought not, for her 
sake, to be false to America — and false you will be, 
if you fail to rebuke her for her atrocious system of 



140 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



slavery. The fact that her soil is stained with 
blood ; that there is no other institution to which 
she clings with so much tenacity as to that of 
slavery ; that your welcome depends upon your 
silence where even the very stones should cry out ; 
that the universal sympathy which is expressed for 
your oppressed countrymen would instantly be 
turned to rage, and thus proved to be spurious — 
this fact alone would make you faithful and fearless, 
instead of timid and parasitical, if ' God the 
Almighty ' had selected you ' to represent the 
cause of humanity ' before us " (vol. iii., pp. 354, 
355). 

The appearance of " Uncle Tom's Cabin," in 
1852, called forth an appreciative review in the 
Liberator. The following application of the princi- 
ple of Non-resistance is interesting : — 

" We are curious to know whether Mrs. Stowe 
is a believer in the duty of non-resistance for the 
white man, under all possible outrage and peril, as 
well as for the black man ; whether she is for self- 
defence on her own part, or that of her husband or 
friend or country, in case of malignant assault, 
or whether she impartially disarms all mankind 
in the name of Christ, be the danger or suffering 
what it may. We are curious to know this because 
our opinion of her, as a religious teacher, would be 
greatly strengthened or lessened as the inquiry 
might terminate. 

u That all the slaves of the South ought, ' if 
smitten on the one cheek to turn the other also,' — to 
repudiate all carnal weapons, shed no blood, 1 be 
obedient to their masters/ wait for a peaceful 
deliverance, and abstain from all insurrectionary 
movements — is everywhere taken for granted, be- 
cause the victims are black. They cannot be 
animated by a Christian spirit, and yet return blow 
for blow, or conspire for the destruction of their 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 141 



oppressors. They are required by the Bible to put 
away all wrath, to submit to every conceivable 
outrage without resistance, to suffer with Christ, 
if they would reign with Him. None of their 
advocates may seek to inspire them to imitate the 
example Of the Greeks, the Poles, the Hungarians, 
our Revolutionary sires ; for such teaching would 
evince a most un-Christian and blood-thirsty dis- 
position. For them there is no hope of heaven 
unless they give the most literal interpretations to 
the non-resisting injunctions contained in the Ser- 
mon on the Mount, touching the treatment of 
enemies . . . Nothing can be plainer than that 
such conduct is obligatory upon them ; and when, 
through the operations of divine grace, they are 
enabled to manifest a spirit like this, it is acknow- 
ledged to be worthy of great commendation, as in 
the case of ' Uncle Tom.' But for those whose skin 
is of a different complexion, the case is materially 
altered. When they are spit upon and buffeted, 
outraged, and oppressed, talk not then of a non- 
resisting Saviour — it is fanaticism ! Talk not of 
overcoming evil with good — it is madness ! Talk 
not of peacefully submittting to chains andstripes — 
it is base servility ! Talk not of servants being 
obedient to their masters — let the blood of the 
tyrants flow ! How is this to be explained or 
reconciled ? Is there one law of submission and 
non-resistance for the black man, and another law 
of rebellion and conflict for the white man ? When 
it is the whites that are trodden in the dust, does 
Christ justify them in taking up arms to vindicate 
their rights ? And when it is the blacks that are 
thus treated, does Christ require them to be patient, 
harmless, long-suffering and forgiving ? And are 
there two Christs ? " (vol. iii., pp. 361, 362). 

The commencement of Garrison's acquaintance 
with Harriet Beecher Stowe ? dates from about this 



142 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, 



time, and was followed some months later by a 
correspondence on the subject of Garrison's atti- 
tude towards the Bible and orthodox religion. To 
Mrs. Stowe's expostulations, Garrison replied as 
follows : — 

" You say it is on the Bible you ground all your 
hopes of the liberties, not only of the slave, but of 
the whole human race. How does it happen, then, 
that in a nation professing to place as high an 
estimate upon that volume as yourself, and de- 
nouncing as infidels all who do not hold it equally 
sacred, there are three millions and a half of chattel 
slaves, who are denied its possession under severe 
penalties ? Is not slavery sanctioned by the 
Bible, according to the interpretation of it by the 
clergy generally, its recognised expounders ? 
What, then, does the cause of bleeding humanity 
gain by all this veneration for the book ? 

" My reliance for the deliverance of the oppressed 
universally is upon the nature of man, the inherent 
wrongfulness of oppression, the power of truth, and 
the omnipotence of God — using every rightful 
instrumentality to hasten the jubilee " (vol. hi., 
p. 401). 

These theological questions had again been 
brought to the front by a Bible Convention, in 
which Garrison took an active part . His present 
attitude towards the Bible controversy is well ex- 
pressed in the resolutions, drawn up by him, for 
this Convention. 

''ist. — Resolved, that the doctrine of the American 
church and priesthood, that the Bible is the word of 
God ; that whatever it contains was given by 
divine inspiration ; and that it is the only rule of 
faith and practice, is self-evidently absurd, exceed- 
ingly injurious both to the intellect and soul, 
highly pernicious in its application, and a stumbling 
block in the way of human redemptoin. 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 143 



2nd. — Resolved, that this doctrine has too long 
been held as a potent weapon in the hands of time- 
serving commentators and designing priests, to 
beat down the rising spirit of religious liberty, 
and to discourage scientific development — to 
subserve the interests of blind guides and false 
teachers, and to fill all Christendom with conten- 
tion and strife ; and therefore the time has come 
to declare its untruthfulness, and to unmask those 
who are guilty of this imposture. 

3rd. — Resolved, that ' the word of God is not 
bound/ either within the lids of any book, or by 
any ecclesiastical edict ; but, like its Divine 
Author, was before all books, and is everywhere 
present, and from everlasting to everlasting — ever 
enunciating the same law, and requiring the same 
obedience, being ' quick and powerful and sharper 
than any two edged sword/ — the Bible itself being 
witness. 

4th. — Resolved, that it is a secondary question 
as to when, where, or by whom the books of the 
Old and New Testaments were written ; but the 
primary and all-important question is, what do 
they teach and command ? And in order to 
ascertain this, they are to be as freely examined, 
and as readily accepted or rejected, as any other 
books, according as they are found worthless or 
valuable " (vol. iii., p. 386). 

Two other Conventions were held during this 
year (1853) — A World's Temperance Convention, 
from which women were excluded, and a Woman's 
Rights Convention. 

The Woman's Movement, which was now making 
considerable progress, was, nevertheless, exciting 
a great deal of opposition — popular as well as 
clerical. 

" I have seen many tumultuous meetings in my 
day," wrote Garrison, " but I think on no occasion 



144 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



have I ever seen anything more disgraceful to our 
common humanity than when Miss Brown at- 
tempted to speak upon the platform of the World's 
Temperance Convention, in aid of the glorious 
cause which had brought that Convention together. 
It was an outbreak of passion, contempt, indigna- 
tion, and every vile emotion of the soul, throwing 
into the shade almost everything coming from the 
vilest of the vile that I have ever witnessed on any 
occasion or under any circumstances ; venerable 
men, claiming to be holy men, the ambassadors of 
Jesus Christ, losing all self-respect and transforming 
themselves into the most unmannerly and violent 
spirits, merely on account of the sex of the indivi- 
dual who wished to address the assembly " (vol. 
iii., p. 391). 

Garrison's own views are concisely expressed 
in these words : — 

" I have been derisively called a ' Woman's 
Rights Man/ I know no such distinction. I 
claim to be a Human Rights Man ; and wherever 
there is a human being I see God-given rights 
inherent in that being, whatever may be the sex 
or complexion " (vol. hi., p. 390). 

The following resolution passed by the Woman's 
Rights Convention was also drawn up by Garri- 
son : — 

" Resolved, that the natural rights of one human 
being are those of every other, in all cases equally 
sacred and inalienable ; hence the boasted 1 Rights 
of Man,' about which we hear so much, are simply 
the Rights of Woman, of which we hear so little ; 
or, in other words, they are the Rights of Humanity, 
neither affected by, nor dependent upon, sex or 
condition " (vol. iii., pp. 391, 392). 

The passing in 1854 °f the Kansas-Nebraska Act, 
by which upwards of 400,000 square miles of 
territory, formerly dedicated to freedom, were 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 145 



thrown open to slavery, changed considerably the 
general feeling of the North towards the Aboli- 
tionists ; and the influence of the latter is seen in the 
passing of the Massachusetts Personal Liberty Law. 

This was an Act to protect the rights and liber- 
ties of the people and the commonwealth of Mas- 
sachusetts, and "was designed to frustrate the pur- 
poses of the Fugitive Slave Law, by placing obsta- 
cles in the way of the recovery of fugitive slaves, 
and the kidnapping of free negroes.' ' 

The events of this exciting period — when the free 
staters in Kansas were arming in self-defence 
against the hordes of degraded men whom the 
slave power was pouring into the state — were well 
calculated to test the peace principles of the 
Abolitionists. Garrison's faith, however, never 
wavered, and in 1856, he presided at a New England 
Non-resistance Convention. His message was 
ever the same, the necessity for a peaceful dissolution 
of the Union. 

The murderous pro-slavery inroads into Kansas, 
inducing the free-staters to appeal to their Northern 
brethren for help in money and arms, provoked 
such men as Henry Ward Beecher and Theodore 
Parker to open their churches to meetings for the 
donation of rifles. In reply to the declaration of 
the former that, " you might just as well read the 
Bible to buffaloes as to those fellows who follow 
Atchison and S^ngtel^y," Garrison wrote : — 

" Is it not to be sorely pressed, yea, to yield the 
whole ground, to represent any class of our fellow- 
creatures as being on the same level as wild beasts ? 
To such a desperate shift does the slave-holder 
resort, to screen himself from condemnation. 
The negroes, he avers, are an inferior race — a con- 
necting link between men and monkeys— and there- 
fore it is folly to talk of giving them liberty and 
equal rights. 

K 



146 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



" For our own part we deeply compassionate the 
miserable and degraded tools of the slave pro- 
pagandists, who know not what they do, and (as 
Mr. Beecher correctly says), are raked together 
from the purlieus of a frontier slave state, drugged 
with whiskey, and hounded on by broken-down 
and desperate politicians. But they are far less 
blameworthy than their employers and endorsers. 
To a great extent they are the victims of a horribly 
false state of society in Missouri, and, no doubt, 
fearfully depraved ; yet they are not beasts, not to 
be treated as beasts. Convince us that it is right 
to shoot anybody, and our perplexity would be to 
know where to begin — whom first to despatch, as 
opportunity might offer. We should have to make 
a clean sweep of the President and his cabinet . . . 
the conductors of such papers as the New York 
Journal of Commerce, Observer, Express, Herald, 
and the satanic press universally. These are the 
intelligent, responsible and colossal conspirators 
against the liberty, peace, happiness and safety 
of the public, whose guilt cannot easily be exag- 
gerated. Against their treasonable course our 
moral indignation burns like fire, though we wish 
them no harm ; only we are sure that they are 
utterly without excuse. 

" Mr. Beecher says, 1 we know that there are 
those who will scoff at the idea of holding a sword 
or rifle, in a Christian state of mind/ He will 
allow us to shrink from such an idea without 
scoffing. We know not where to look for Chris- 
tianity if not to its founder ; and taking the record 
of His life and death, of His teaching and example, 
we can discover nothing which even remotely, under 
any conceivable circumstances, justifies the use of 
the sword or rifle on the part of His f ellowers ; on 
the contrary, we find nothing but self-sacrifice, 
willing martyrdom (if need be) peace and good-will 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 147 



and the prohibition of all retaliatory feelings, en- 
j oined upon all who would be His disciples. When 
He said: 'Fear not those who kill the body/ He broke 
every deadly weapon. When He said : ' My king- 
dom is not of this world, else would My servants 
fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews/ He 
plainly prohibited war in self-defence, and sub- 
stituted martyrdom therefor. When He said : 
* Love your enemies/ He did not mean, ' kill them, 
if they go too far/ When He said, while expiring 
on the cross, 1 Father forgive them ; for they know 
not what they do/ He did not treat them as ' a herd 
of buffaloes/ but as poor, misguided and lost men. 
We believe in His philosophy ; we accept His in- 
structions ; we are thrilled by His example; we 
rejoice in His fidelity. How touching is the lan- 
guage of James ! — ' Ye have condemned and 
killed the just ; and he doth not resist you! And how 
melting to the soul is the declaration : ' He was 
led as a lamb to the slaughter ! ' And again : ' God 
commendeth his love towards us in that, while we 
were yet sinners, Christ died for us' " (vol. iii., 

PP. 436, 437, 438). 

In view of the coming presidential election, 
when many lovers of freedom were supporting the 
Republican candidate Fremont, Garrison thus 
admonished his Abolitionist friends : — 

" What then is our duty as Abolitionists in the 
present crisis. First, what is it not ? 

" It is not to abandon our principles, for they 
are immutable and eternal. It is not to lessen our 
demands, for they are just and right. It is not to 
lose sight of, or postpone to a more favourable 
period, the glorious object we have ever had in 
view, — to wit, the total and immediate extinction 
of slavery, — for that would be fatuity. It is not to 
substitute the non-extension for the abolition of 
slavery, for this would be to wrestle with an effect, 



148 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



while leaving the cause untouched — to seek to 
avert the penalty of sin, while allowing the sin 
itself to go unrepented of. It is not to lower our 
standard in order to propitiate the time-serving 
and cowardly or to carry any measure, however 
desirable, for this would be a certain defeat. It is 
not to concentrate our forces upon any geographical 
or side issue with the Slave Power, for this would 
be a fatal diversion. It is not to plead for the 
white labourer, to the forgetfulness of the black 
labourer, nor to concern ourselves exclusively with 
consecrating to freedom any particular portion of 
the American soil, for ours is neither a complex- 
ional nor a sectional movement. It is not to act 
upon the jesuitical maxim, that the end sanctifies 
the means, for this is the all-corrupting sin in every 
part of this rebellious world. It is not to seek what 
is most available for the hour, or temporary success 
upon a false basis, for this is to rely upon numbers 
and not upon God — upon policy, and not upon 
principle " (vol. iii., p. 444). 

The election of a pro-slavery president — in 1856 
— involving " four years more of pro-slavery 
government and a rapid increase in the hostility 
between the two sections of the Union " — led to 
the call for a state Convention u to consider the 
practicability, probability and expediency of a 
separation between the Free and Slave States, 
and to take such other measures as the condition of 
the times may require " (vol. iii., p. 450). 

In the course of his speech at this Convention 
Garrison thus expressed his views on the subject 
of dis-union : — 

" I do not marvel at the general hesitancy which 
I find in the community to come up to the high 
position of demanding a dissolution of the Union. 
I remember how men are born, and how they are 
bred. I know, in regard to my own case, with what 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 149 



tenacity I clung to this Union, inspired by the 
patriotic feelings of my early days, and never 
dreaming that anything would ever separate me 
from it, or lead me to desire its dissolution. Men do 
not change the institutions which have come down to 
them from the past lightly, or for transient reasons. 
They must be placed in a trying emergency, — they 
must feel a strong moral obligation pressing upon 
them, — they must clearly perceive some great 
impending evil to be shunned, some great good to 
be gained, — before they will go into revolution, 
whether it be physical revolution, attended with 
the shedding of human blood, or a moral revolution 
attended with the loss of friends and popularity 
and the sacrifice of worldly interests . . . 

" My reasons for leaving the Union are, first, be- 
cause of the nature of the bond. I would not 
stand here a moment, were it not that this is with 
me a question of absolute morality — of obedience 
to ' the higher law.' By all that is just and holy, it 
is not optional whether you or I shall occupy the 
ground of Disunion. It is not a matter of political 
expediency or policy, or even of incongruity of 
interests between the North and the South. It 
strikes deeper, it rises higher than that. This is 
the question. Are we of the North not bound in a 
Union with slaveholders, whereby they are enabled 
to hold four millions of our countrymen in bondage, 
with all safety and impunity ? . . My difficulty 
therefore is a moral one. The Union was formed 
at the expense of the slave population of the land. 
I cannot swear to uphold it. As I understand it, 
they who ask me to do so, ask me to do an immoral 
act — to stain my conscience — to sin against God. 
How can I do this ? " (vol. hi., pp. 452, 453, 456). 

The growing conviction that war was inevitable 
is conveyed in the last of the resolutions passed by 
the Convention. 



150 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



" Resolved, that the sooner the separation takes 
place, the more peaceful it will be ; but that 
peace or war is a secondary consideration, in view 
of our present perils. Slavery must be conquered, 
' peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must 1 " (vol. 
p. 457). 

Although sharing this conviction, Garrison still 
urged his fellow Abolitionists to hold fast to theii 
original principles. 

" When the Anti-slavery cause was launched/' 
he said, " it was baptised in the spirit of peace. We 
proclaimed to the country and the world that the 
weapons of our warfare were not carnal, but 
spiritual, and we believed them to be mighty 
through God to the pulling down, even of the 
stronghold of slavery ; and for several years great 
moral power accompanied our cause wherever 
presented. Alas ! in the course of the fearful 
developments of the Slave Power, and its con- 
tinued aggression on the rights of the people of 
the North, in my judgment a sad change has come 
over the spirit of Anti-slavery men, generally 
speaking. W T e are growing more and more war- 
like, more and more disposed to repudiate the 
principles of peace, more and more disposed to 
talk about 1 finding a point in the neck of the 
tyrant/ and breaking that neck, ' cleaving tyrants 
down from the crown to the groin/ with the sword 
which is carnal, and so inflaming one another with 
the spirit of violence and for a bloody work. Just 
in proportion as this spirit prevails, I feel that our 
moral power is departing and will depart. I say 
this not so much as an Abolitionist as a man. I 
believe in the spirit of peace, and in sole and abso- 
lute reliance on truth and the application of it to 
the hearts and consciences of the people. I do 
not believe that the weapons of liberty ever have 
been, or ever can be the weapons of despotism. I 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 151 



know that those of despotism are the sword, the re- 
volver, the cannon, the bombshell; and, therefore, 
the weapons to which tyrants cling, and upon which 
they depend, are not the weapons for me, as a 
friend of liberty. I will not trust the w r ar spirit 
anywhere in the universe of God, because the 
experience of six thousand years proves it not to be 
at all reliable in such a struggle as ours . . . 

" I pray you, Abolitionists, still to adhere to that 
truth. Do not get impatient ; do not become 
exasperated, do not attempt any new political 
organisation ; do not make yourselves familiar 
with the idea that blood must flow. Perhaps blood 
will flow — God knows, I do not ; but it shall not 
flow through any counsel of mine. Much as I de- 
test the oppression exercised by the Southern 
slave-holder, he is a man sacred before me. He 
is a man, not to be harmed by my hand nor with 
my consent. He is a man, who is grievously and 
wickedly trampling upon the rights of his fellow 
men ; but all I have to do with him is to rebuke 
his sin, to call him to repentance, to leave him 
without excuse for his tyranny. He is a sinner 
before God — a great sinner ; yet, while I will not 
cease reprobating his horrible injustice, I will let 
him see that in my heart there is no desire to do 
him harm, — that I wish to bless him here and 
bless him everlastingly, — and that I have no 
other weapon to meld against him but the simple 
truth of God, which is the great instrument for 
the overthrow of all iniquity, and the salvation 
of the world " (vol. hi., pp. 473, 474). 



CHAPTER IX. 



As the abolition movement became more and 
more a national movement, the history o': the 
Abolitionists was necessarily merged in the political 
history of their time and nation, — and to trace 
the events of this stirring period is no part of our 
purpose. We must, therefore, be content hence- 
forth to quote from Garrison's writings such short 
passages as serve to reveal the more characteristic 
thoughts and opinions of the writer. 

The defeat and capture of John Brown at Har- 
per's Ferry, together with his subsequent execution, 
called forth sentiments similar to those elicited by 
the death of Lovejoy some years previously ; 
nevertheless the feeling expressed by the public at 
large differed considerably in the two cases. To 
use Garrison's words : — 

" The sympathy and admiration now so widely 
felt for him prove how marvellous has been the 
change effected in public opinion during thirty 
years of moral agitation — a change so great in- 
deed, that whereas, ten years since, there were 
thousands who could not endure my lightest word 
of rebuke of the South, they can now easily swallow 
John Brown whole, and his rifle into the bargain. 
In firing his gun, he has merely told us what time 
of day it is. It is high noon, thank God ! " (vol. 
iii., p. 493). 

This event " which filled the South with con- 
sternation, and drove to its highest pitch the wave 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 153 



of anti-slavery sentiment in the North," was thus 
recorded in the Liberator : — 

" The particulars of a misguided, wild, and 
apparently insane, though disinterested and well 
intended effort by insurrection to emancipate the 
slaves of Virginia, made under the leadership of 
Captain Brown, alias ' Osawatomie ' Brown, may 
be found on our third page. Our views of war and 
bloodshed, even in the best of causes, are too well 
known to need any repeating here ; but let no 
man who glories in the Revolutionary struggle of 
1776 deny the right of the slaves to imitate the 
example of our fathers " (vol. iii., p. 486). 

A month later the Liberator contained the 
following : — 

" In recording the expressions of sympathy and 
admiration which are so widely felt for John 
Brown, whose doom is so swiftly approaching, we 
desire to say — once for all — that, judging him by 
the code of Bunker Hill, we think he is as de- 
serving of high-wrought eulogy as any who ever 
wielded sword or battle axe in the cause of liberty ; 
but we do not, and cannot approve any indulgence 
of the war spirit. John Brown has, perhaps, a 
right to a place by the side of Moses, Joshua, 
Gideon and David ; but he is not on the same plane 
with Jesus, Paul, Peter and John, the weapons of 
whose warfare were not carnal, though mighty to 
the pulling down of strongholds. But the pro- 
fessedly Christian church, with all Christendom, 
rejects our peaceful interpretation of Christianity, 
and has no right, therefore, to measure him by any 
higher standard than its own " (vol. iii., pp. 489, 
490). 

This extract from a speech of Garrison's is also 
of interest, bearing as it does on the speaker's 
attitude towards the civil war, which by this period 
may almost be regarded as having commenced. 



154 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



" A word upon the subject of peace. I am a 
non-resistant — a believer in the inviolability of 
human life, under all circumstances ; I, therefore, 
in the name of God, disarm John Brown, and 
every slave at the South. But I do not stop 
there ; if I did I should be a monster. I also 
disarm, in the name of God, every slave holder 
and tyrant in the world. For wherever that 
principle is adopted, all fetters must instantly 
melt, and there can be no oppressed and no oppres- 
sor, in the nature of things. How many agree 
with me in regard to the doctrine of the inviola- 
bility of human life ? How many non-resistants 
are there here to-night ? (A single voice — 'I ') 
There is one ! Well, then, you who are otherwise, 
are not the men to point the finger at John Brown 
and cry 'traitor/ — judging you by your own 
standard. Nevertheless, I am a non-resistant, 
and I not only desire, but have laboured unre- 
mittingly to effect, the peaceful abolition of 
slavery, by an appeal to the reason and conscience 
of every slave holder ; yet, as a peace man — an 
' ultra ' peace man — I am prepared to say : * Suc- 
cess to every slave insurrection at the South, and in 
every slave country/ I do not see how I com- 
promise or stain my peace profession in making 
that declaration. Whenever there is a contest 
between the oppressed and the oppressor, — the 
weapons being equal between the parties, — God 
knows my heart must be with the oppressed, and 
always against the oppressor. Therefore, when- 
ever commenced, I cannot but wish success to all 
slave insurrections. I thank God when men who 
believe in the right and duty of wielding carnal 
weapons, are so far advanced that they will take 
those weapons out of the scale of despotism, and 
throw them into the scale of freedom. It is an 
indication of progress, and a positive moral growth 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 155 



it is one way to get up to the sublime platform of 
non-resistance ; and it is God's method of dealing 
retribution upon the head of the tyrant. Rather 
than see men wearing their chains in a cowardly 
and servile spirit, I would as an advocate of peace 
much rather see them breaking the head of the 
tyrant with their chains. Give me, as a non- 
resistant, Bunker Hill and Lexington and Con- 
cord, rather than the cowardice and servility of a 
Southern slave-plantation " (vol. iii., pp. 491, 492). 

The conduct of Abraham Lincoln during the first 
months of his presidency — his apparent indiffer- 
ence to the subject of slavery, and unshaken 
fidelity to the Union, as he found it — was severely 
criticised in the columns of the Liberator. The 
criticism was, however, just and discriminating, 
and Garrison was, on the whole, far more satisfied 
with the aspect of affairs at the outbreak of the war 
than some of his co-workers. 

In April, 1861, he wrote : — 

" Now that civil war has begun, and a whirlwind 
of violence and excitement is to sweep through the 
country, every day increasing in intensity until 
its bloodiest culmination, it is for the Abolitionist 
to 6 stand still and see the salvation of God/ rather 
than to attempt to add anything to the general 
commotion. It is no time for minute criticism of 
Lincoln, Republicanism, or even the other parties, 
now that they are fusing for a death-grapple with 
the Southern slave oligarchy ; for they are instru- 
ments in the hands of God to carry forward and 
help achieve the great object of emancipation for 
which we have so long been striving " (vol. iv. a p. 
21). 

To those who asked him, " What of your peace 
principles now ? " he replied : — 

" This question is exultingly put to the friends 
of peace and non-resistance by those whose military 



156 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



ardour is now at a white heat, as though it could 
not be satisfactorily answered, and deserved noth- 
ing but ridicule. Our reply to it is, that the peace 
principles are as beneficent and glorious as ever, 
and are neither disproved nor modified by any- 
thing now transpiring in the country, of a warlike 
nature. If they had been long since embraced 
and carried out by the people, neither slavery nor 
war would now be filling the land with violence 
and blood. Where they prevail, no man is in dan- 
ger of life or liberty ; where they are rejected, and 
precisely to the extent they are rejected, neither 
life nor liberty is secure. How their violation, under 
any circumstances, is better than a faithful adher- 
ence to them, we have not the moral vision to per- 
ceive. They are to be held responsible for 
nothing which they do not legitimately produce or 
sanction. As they neither produce nor sanction 
any oppression or wrong-doing, but elevate the 
character, control the passions, and lead to the 
performance of all good offices, they are not to be 
discarded for those of a hostile character . . . 

" But are we not giving our sympathies to the 
Government as against the secession movement ? 
Certainly — because, as between the combatants, 
there is no wrong or injustice on the side of the 
Government, while there is nothing but violence, 
robbery, confiscation, perfidy, lynch law, usur- 
pation, and a most diabolical purpose, on the side 
of the secessionists. The weapons resorted to on 
both sides are the same ; yet it is impossible not to 
wish success to the innocent, and defeat to the 
guilty party. But, in so doing, we do not com- 
promise either our Anti-slavery or our peace prin- 
ciples. On the contrary, we wish all the North 
were able to adopt those principles, understand- 
ing^, heartily and without delay ; but, according 
to the structure of the human mind, in the whirl- 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 157 



wind of the present deadly conflict this is imprac- 
ticable. As, therefore, Paul said to the Jews who 
would not accept the new dispensation ' Ye that 
are under the Law, do ye not hear the Law ? 
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things 
written in the book of the law to do them/ — so we 
measure those who, rejecting the doctrine of non- 
resistance, profess to believe in the right and duty 
of maintaining their freedom by the sword. The 
worst thing they can do is to be recreant to their 
own convictions in such a crisis as this. 

" But this is, obviously, not the time to expect a 
dispassionate hearing on this subject. After the 
wind, the earthquake, and the fire, comes the still 
small voice. The war must go on to its consum- 
mation ; and among the salutary lessons it will 
teach will be the impossibility of oppressing the 
poor and needy, or consenting thereto, by entering 
into a ' covenant of death/ without desolating 
judgments following in its train " (vol. iv., pp. 25 , 
26). 

Mr. Garrison found many of his Quaker friends 
deeply troubled by the fact that their sons, whom 
they had supposed firmly grounded in the peace 
principles of their Society, had been among the 
earliest to catch the infection of patriotic fervour, 
and enlist in the army, and there was scarcely a 
household from which one or more of the young 
men had not gone forth to the conflict. 

" I told them," he said, with his usual cheerful 
philosophy, " that however much they might 
regret that their sons could not meet the test when 
it was applied, they should at least rejoice that the 
boys were true to their real convictions when the 
shot at Sumter revealed to them that they were 
simply birthright Quakers, and had not fully 
comprehended and absorbed the principles of 
their fathers. They had imagined they were on 



158 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



the plane of the Sermon on the Mount, and they 
found they were only up to the level of Lexington 
and Bunker Hill ; but they should be honored none 
the less for their loyalty to truth and freedom " 
(vol. iv., p. 37). 

Garrison's views on this subject were subse- 
quently put to the test by the conduct of his own 
eldest son. When, in 1803, he was offered a com- 
mission in a coloured regiment , recruited and drilled 
by the State of Massachusetts, he joyfully em- 
braced this opportunity of serving the cause he 
loved. 

" Though I could have wished," wrote the 
father, " that you had been able under standingly 
and truly to adopt those principles of peace which 
are so sacred and divine to my own soul, yet you 
will bear me witness that I have not laid a straw in 
your way to prevent your acting up to your own 
highest convictions of duty ; for nothing would be 
gained, but much lost, to have you violate these. 
Still I tenderly hope that you will once more 
seriously review the whole matter before making 
the irrevocable decision " (vol. iv., p. 80). And 
three months later, when George Thompson 
Garrison had marched South with his regiment, his 
father wrote : — 

" Not a day has passed, that we have not had you 
in our liveliest remembrance. I miss you by my 
side at the table, and at the printing office, and 
cannot get reconciled to the separation. Yet I 
have nothing but praise to give you that you have 
been faithful to your highest convictions, and 
taking your life in youi hands, are willing to lay it 
down, even like the brave Colonel Shaw, and his 
associates, if need be, in the cause of freedom, and 
for the suppression of slavery and rebellion. True, 
I could have wished you could ascend to what I 
believe a higher plane of moral heroism and a 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 159 



nobler method of self-sacrifice ; but as you are 
true to yourself, I am glad of your fidelity and 
proud of your willingness to run any risk in a cause 
that is undeniably just and good. I have no fear 
that you will be found wanting at any time in the 
trial hour, or in the discharge of your official 
duties " (vol. iv., pp. 83, 84). 

As the war progressed, Wendell Phillips and 
other Abolitionist leaders took such a sombre view 
of the prospect, that Garrison was led to express 
himself in terms even more joyful than one might 
have expected from a " peace man." 

" What have we to rejoice over ? " he exclaimed. 
" Why, I say the war ! 1 What ! this fratricidal 
war ? What ! this civil war ? What ! this 
treasonable disememberment of the Union ? " 
Yes, thank God for it all ! — for it indicates the 
waning power of slavery and the irresistible growth 
of freedom, and that the day of Northern sub- 
mission is passed. It is better that we should be so 
virtuous that the vicious cannot live with us, than 
to be so vile that they can endure and relish our 
company " (vol. iv., p. 43). 

The question of compulsory military service, in 
relation to non-resistants and Abolitionists gener- 
ally, was discussed at length in the Liberator. 
The editor " maintained that the former (only a 
handful really) who consistently refrained from 
voting or taking any part in politics and govern- 
ment on conscientious grounds, ought to be exempt 
from its operation, but that all professed peace men 
(including the Quakers) who voted, and by their 
votes elected as their agent a President and mem- 
bers of Congress, bound by their oaths to defend 
Government by military and naval force if neces- 
sary, had no just claim to exemption." In some 
states, the Quakers were by law free from all 
military liabilities, on account of their peace 



i6o WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



principles, but this, he protested, was " conceding 
to a sect what belongs to conscience irrespective 
of sect," and so was manifestly unjust. " For he 
who believes in total abstinence from war as a 
Christian duty, though a member of no religious 
body, ought to have the same toleration as though 
he wore a Quaker dress and belonged to a Quaker 
Society " (vol. iv., pp. 58, 59). 

" Such/' he wrote, " as wholly abstain from 
voting to uphold the Constitution because of its 
war provisions, and thus religiously exclude them- 
selves from all share in what are deemed official 
honours and emoluments, ought not to be drafted 
in time of war, or compelled to pay an equivalent, 
or go to prison for disobedience. If conscience is to 
be respected and provided for in any case, it is in 
theirs . . . 

" It can hardly be asked by any non-resistant, 
* How, if drafted, about hiring a substitute ? 1 
because what we do by another as our agent or 
representative we do ourselves. To hire a sub- 
stitute is, as a matter of principle, precisely the 
same as to go to the battle-field in person. 

u ' But if the alternative be to pay a stipulated 
sum to the government, or else be imprisoned or 
shot, may we pay the fine ? ' That is a matter for 
the individual conscience to decide. Speaking 
personally, we see no violation of non-resistance 
principles in paying the money ; because it is a 
choice presented between different forms of suffer- 
ing, and ' other things being equal/ it will be 
natural to wish to avoid as much of it as the case 
will admit. Thus, a highwayman, placing a pistol 
to our head, demands, in our helplessness, ' Your 
money or your life ! ' To part with the money is 
certainly more reasonable than to part with life ; 
nor, in yielding it, do we give any sanction to the 
demand. But, if the highwayman should say, 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 161 



' Your money, and acknowledgment of my right to 
extort it, or your life," then there would be no 
alternative but to die, or else prove recreant to 
truth and honesty. 

" But/ it may be said, ' though I should refuse 
to hire a substitute, yet, if I pay the price demanded, 
will not the government take the money and apply 
it for that purpose ? and is there any essential 
moral difference here ? ' We think there is. In 
hiring a substitute yourself, you actively sustain 
the war, and become an armed participant in it, 
and so violate the principles which you profess to 
revere. In paying a tax, you passively submit 
to the exaction, which, in itself, commits no 
violence upon others, but is only a transfer of so 
much property to other hands. If, then, the 
government shall proceed to apply it to war pur- 
poses the responsibility will rest with the govern- 
ment, not with you. This is the light in which we 
regard it ; still we offer no other suggestion than 
this — ' Let every man be fully persuaded in his own 
mind 1 ; we shall honour none the less him who may 
feel it his duty to take the most afflicting alterna- 
tive, as the most effectual method to meet the issue 
before the community, of that he must be the 
judge ; and especially must he be sure to count the 
cost and act intelligently " (vol. iv., pp. 59, 60, 61). 

Very trying, during the war, must have been 
the position of George Thompson, who, under- 
standing the American Constitution better, per- 
haps, than any other Englishman, did his utmost to 
enlighten public opinion in this country. To 
Garrison he wrote, shortly before the issue of the 
Proclamation of Emancipation created a revolution 
in public sentiment : — 

" You know how impossible it is at the present 
moment to vindicate, as one would wish, the course 
of Mr. Lincoln. In no one of his utterances is 

L 



i62 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



there an assertion of a great principle — no appeal 
to right or justice. In everything he does or says, 
affecting the slave, there is the alloy of expediency, 
the slave may be free — if it should be ' necessary,' 
or ' convenient/ or ' agreeable to his master/ What 
we want to see him do is, to take his stand upon the 
doctrine of human equality and man's inalienable 
right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 
All else is paltering with conscience and truth " 
(vol. iv., p. 68). 

The Proclamation, of January, 1863, was, of 
course, the signal for an outburst of rejoicing from 
the anti-slavery ranks, — and, henceforth, the 
President had in William Lloyd Garrison a faithful 
supporter. In an interview which took place 
between them shortly before President Lincoln's 
re-election — when Wendell Phillips and his sym- 
pathisers were strenuously opposing the continuance 
of his term of office, Garrison said : — 

" Mr. Lincoln, I want to tell you frankly that 
for every word I have spoken in your favour, I 
have spoken ten in favour of General Fremont," and 
he went on to explain how difficult he had found it 
to commend the President when the latter was 
revoking the proclamations of Fremont and Hun- 
ter, and reiterating his purpose to save the Union 
if he could, without destroying slavery. " But, 
Mr. President," he continued, " from the hour 
that you issued the Emancipation Proclamation, 
and showed your purpose to stand by it, I have 
given you my hearty support and confidence " 
(vol. iv., p. 117). 

In this year, 1864, George Thompson paid his 
third and last visit to America, where a very dif- 
ferent reception awaited him to that accorded on 
former occasions. Public men, including the Pre- 
sident, now welcomed him as one of the few Eng- 
lishmen who had waited with patient and under- 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 163 



standing tolerance the slow development of the 
work of emancipation. 

The passing, in 1865, of the thirteenth Amend- 
ment of the Constitution, forever abolishing slavery 
in the United States, called forth a still greater out- 
burst of rejoicing among the friends of liberty. At 
a Jubilee meeting held in Boston, Garrison was 
naturally the speaker of the evening, and every- 
where throughout the North, the once despised 
and persecuted editor was now honored and 
consulted. 

Still the war continued, until the downfall of 
Richmond in April, 1865. A few days later, 
Garrison received an invitation from the Secretary 
of War, to be present as the guest of the Govern- 
ment at the ceremony of raising the Stars and 
Stripes on Fort Sumter, on the fourth anniversary 
of the surrender of the Fort and the commencement 
of the war. George Thompson was also invited 
to attend the ceremony. 

Scenes sad and touching as well as joyous and 
exultant were witnessed during this visit. The 
liberated slaves flocked in crowds to testify their 
gratitude to their deliverers, showering flowers upon 
them — some even bringing humble gifts of fruit 
and cakes. One of these scenes is thus described 
by an eye witness : — 

" Later in the morning I entered a vast building 
which is known as Zion's Church, and which is used 
by the coloured people as their principal place of 
worship. It was crowded with an immense audi- 
ence of three or four thousand blacks . . . Garrison 
was standing in the pulpit, receiving an address 
from a liberated slave who stood below. The 
negro spoke in behalf of the emancipated 
thousands who surrounded him, and in words 
of thrilling eloquence extended a joyful welcome 
to their distinguished visitor and friend. They 



164 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



all recognised in him the leader of the great 
movement which had broken their chains. 
Pointing to two little girls near by, who were 
neatly dressed, and were holding beautiful 
bouquets in their hands, the freedman said, in 
most pathetic and impassioned tones, that but a 
brief time before, he had no power to claim them 
as his own, although they were bone of his bone 
and flesh of his flesh. 1 Now, sir/ he continued, 
' through your labours and those of your noble 
coadjutors, they are mine, and no man can take 
them from me. Accept these flowers as a token 
of our gratitude and love, and take them with you 
to your home, and keep them as a simple offering 
from those for whom you have done so much/ 

" The little girls ascended the pulpit stairs and 
presented their flowers to Mr. Garrison, who made 
a most fitting and touching reply. It seemed to 
me that it must have been the proudest moment 
in the reformer's life " (vol. iv., pp. 144, 145). 

But most pathetic of all was the scene witnessed 
by Garrison at the camp, three miles out of Charles- 
ton, where he visited his soldier son. Twelve hun- 
dred plantation slaves, who had just been convoyed 
from the interior, w r ere there assembled. These 
presented a spectacle of misery and degradation 
never before witnessed by their benefactor. Their 
crushed and hopeless condition was evidenced by the 
fact that, when, before leaving the camp, Garrison 
proposed that they should give three cheers for 
freedom, the poor creatures made no response, 
merely gazing at him in wonder. They did not 
know how to cheer. 

This triumphant visit to the south was suddenly 
cut short by the news of President Lincoln's assas- 
sination. All rejoicing was at an end, and sad and 
anxious, the pleasure party hastened home. 



CHAPTER X 



Slavery being now legally abolished, Garrison 
announced that the publication of the Liberator 
would cease with the current year. He also sug- 
gested that the American Anti-Slavery Society, 
having accomplished its self-imposed task, should 
dissolve. To this, however, many of the Abolition- 
ists objected that, until the ratification of the 
amendment of the Constitution, the liberty of the 
negroes was not secured. They also contended 
that, until the negro was fully enfranchised the 
work of the Society was not complete. 

Garrison in reply, after denying the charge that 
he had " fallen behind," and was about to desert 
the slave in his hour of need, claimed the right to 
interpret the Declaration of the Society, which 
he had himself drawn up. " This Society," he 
said, " is the 1 American Anti-Slavery Society' 
That was the object. The thought never entered 
my mind then, nor has it at any time since, that 
when slavery had received its death wound, there 
would be any disposition or occasion to continue 
the Anti-Slavery Society a moment longer. But, 
of course, in looking over the country, we saw the 
free coloured people more or less labouring under 
disabilities and suffering from injustice, and we de- 
clared that, incidentally, we did not mean to over- 
look them, but should vindicate their rights and 
endeavour to get justice done them. The point is 
here. We organised expressly for the abolition of 



166 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



slavery ; we called our Society an Anti-Slavery 
Society. The other work was incidental. Now, I 
believe that slavery is abolished in this country ; 
abolished constitutionally ; abolished by a decree 
of this nation, never, never to be reversed ; and, 
therefore, that it is ludicrous for us, a mere handful 
of people, with little means, with no agents in the 
field, no longer separate, and swallowed up in the 
great ocean of popular feeling against slavery, to 
assume that we are of especial importance, and that 
we ought not to dissolve our association under such 
circumstances, lest the nation should go to ruin ! 
I will not be guilty of any such absurdity " (vol. iv., 
pp. 158, 159). 

And again during the debate : — 

" My friends, let us no longer affect superiority 
when we are not superior — let us not assume to be 
better than other people when we are not any 
better. When they are reiterating all we say, 
.and disposed to do all that we wish to see done, 
what more can we ask ? And yet I know the 
<lesire to keep together, because of past memories 
and labours, is a very natural one. But let us chal- 
lenge and command the respect of the nation, and 
of the friends of freedom throughout the world, 
by a wise and sensible conclusion. Of course, we 
:are not to cease labouring in regard to whatever 
remains to be done; but let us work with the 
millions and not exclusively as the American Anti- 
islavery Society " (vol. iv., p. 160). 

The majority being in favour of the continuance 
of the Society, Garrison and those who agreed with 
him, retired, and Wendell Phillips was elected 
President in his place. 

It need hardly be said that Garrison was as 
active as any in his efforts to procure for the coloured 
race equal rights in every respect ; nevertheless 
he persisted in his intention of bringing the Libera- 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 167 



tor to a close at the end of the year 1865, after an 
existence of thirty-five years. Before that time 
arrived, the Ratification of the Amendment 
secured beyond all question the final abolition of 
slavery in America. The editor had, therefore, 
the joy of himself setting up in type the Procla- 
mation, for the insertion in the last issue but one 
of the Liberator. In concluding his valedictory in 
the final number, the editor thus expressed his 
intentions as to the future : — 

" As yet, I have neither asked nor wished to be re- 
lieved of any burdens or labours connected with the 
good old cause. I see a mighty work of enlightenment 
and regeneration yet to be accomplished at the 
South, and many cruel wrongs done to the freedmen 
which are yet to be redressed ; and I neither coun- 
sel others to turn away from the field of conflict 
under the delusion that no more remains to be 
done, nor contemplate such a course in my own 
case. The object for which the Liberator was com- 
menced — the extermination of chattel-slavery — 
having been gloriously consummated, it seems to 
me specially appropriate to let its existence cover 
the historic period of the great struggle ; leaving 
what remains to be done to complete the work of 
emancipation to other instrumentalities (of which 
I hope to avail myself), under new auspices, with 
more abundant means, and with millions instead 
of hundreds for allies " (vol. iv., p. 173). 

It was, however, not without a pang of regret 
that Garrison discontinued the work upon which 
he had been engaged for so many years. The old 
habits and associations were strong, and this sudden 
breaking off of the old routine made him feel, as he 
expressed it, " like a hen plucked of her feathers." 

Moreover, with his editorial work he relinquished 
his only regular means of livelihood, meagre as that 
had always been. This difficulty, — no inconsider- 



168 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



able one considering the age and infirmities of both 
Garrison and his wife — was met by a national 
testimonial, set on foot by some of Garrison's more 
devoted friends. After two years of strenuous 
effort, they succeeded in collecting a sum of 31,000 
dollars, to which men of almost every class and 
shade of opinion contributed, including some 
English admirers. 

The great work he had set himself to do, thus 
happily accomplished, Garrison determined once 
more to visit his friends on this side of the Atlantic. 
After four weeks spent in Paris, in the company of 
his son and daughter, he came to London, where 
he was warmly welcomed by many old friends. 

Not content with manifesting their sympathy 
and admiration by the cordiality of their private 
receptions, Garrison's English sympathisers held 
in his honour a public breakfast, at St. James's Hall. 
John Bright presided, and many distinguished men 
and women — including the Duke and Duchess of 
Argyll, Earl Russell, John Stuart Mill, Herbert 
Spencer, Professors Huxley and Fawcett, Frederic 
Harrison, William Black and Justin McCarthy — 
were present. 

John Bright' s opening address is said to have 
been the most beautiful and impressive ever de- 
livered by him, and many fine speeches followed. 

Earl Russell took this opportunity of acknow- 
ledging the injustice he had ignorantly done to 
President Lincoln during the war, and J. S. Mill 
drew some valuable lessons from the life labour 
of their guest. 

From Garrison's speech acknowledging the ad- 
dress of welcome, we extract the following : — 

" Henceforth, through all coming time, advo- 
cates of justice and friends of reform, be not dis- 
couraged ; for you will, and you must succeed, if 
you have a righteous cause. No matter at the 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 169 



outset how few may be disposed to rally round 
the standard you have raised — if you battle un- 
flinchingly and without compromise — if yours be a 
faith that cannot be shaken, because it is linked 
to the Eternal Throne — it is only a question of 
time when victory shall come to reward your toils. 
Seemingly, no system of iniquity was ever more 
strongly intrenched, or more sure and absolute in 
its sway, than that of American slavery ; yet it 
perished. 

' In the earthquake God has spoken : 
He has smitten with His thunder 
The iron walls asunder, 
And the gates of brass are broken/ 

So it has been, so it is, and so it ever will be through- 
out the earth, in every conflict for the right " 
(vol. iv., p. 215). 

Several weeks were spent in visiting different 
parts of England and Scotland, during which time 
Garrison met many sympathetic friends. Perhaps 
there was none among these kindred spirits towards 
whom he felt more drawn than Mazzini, for whom 
he experienced the greatest love and admiration. 

Paris was again visited, then Switzerland, and, 
after another brief stay in England, Garrison 
returned to America, after an absence of five 
months. 

Urged by some of his Abolitionist friends to 
write a history of the Anti-slavery movement, he 
made a serious effort, on his return, to begin this 
formidable task — but more congenial work soon 
diverted his thoughts, and absorbed his time and 
energies. 

The New York Independent invited him to be- 
come a regular paid contributor, with liberty to 
select his own subjects, and to write as often as he 
chose, and, as the paper had a circulation of 60,000, 



170 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



this offer afforded a splendid opportunity of dis- 
seminating his views on the many important sub- 
jects in which he was interested. 

During the next seven or eight years a hundred 
articles, bearing Garrison's name, appeared in the 
paper. 

Naturally all efforts to improve the condition of 
the freedmen claimed his sympathy and support, 
and politics acquired an additional interest on 
account of their influence on the recently eman- 
cipated race. 

Free trade formed the subject of several powerful 
articles and speeches, and Women's Rights still 
claimed a large share of his interest. 

The splendid work then being done by Mrs. 
Josephine Butler, and other Englishwomen, for the 
repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, elicited an 
article full of burning indignation at the iniquity 
of the Acts. Of these reformers, Garrison wrote : — 

" To her, and to them all, I desire thus publicly 
to pay my homage ; regretting that I can find no 
words adequately to express my admiration of the 
moral courage they have displayed, the intellectual 
and moral force they have brought into the field, 
the masterly ability with which they have con- 
ducted the argument, the noble dignity of character 
which they have exemplified under the vilest 
provocation, and the exalted purity of sentiment 
to which they have given utterance. They have 
helped to make the present age illustrious, and 
deserve the plaudits of mankind. Had they been 
represented in the British Parliament, no such in- 
famous Acts could have been passed or proposed. 
Such legislation is possible only where women are 
excluded ; and it furnishes another potential argu- 
ment for their political enfranchisement to the full 
extent enjoyed by men " (vol iv., p. 248). 

The subject of Peace and Non-resistance inter- 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 171 



ested Garrison no less than of old, and he engaged 
in a successful campaign against compulsory mili- 
tary drill in the public schools of Massachusetts. 
The following story shows what a powerful influ- 
ence he was able to exert in favour of peace princi- 
ples : — 

" One day, in the fall of 1875, he received a call 
from a young Japanese student of Boston Univer- 
sity, who had been sent to the United States by his 
government with the ultimate view of obtaining a 
military and naval education. A perusal of 
Charles Sumner's oration on the ' True Grandeur 
of Nations/ had first caused the youth to reflect on 
the nature of war and the military profession, 
and he now came to hear what Mr. Garrison had to 
say on the subject. To the two enthusiastic young 
girls — fellow students — who accompanied and 
introduced him, the rapt expression of his face, as 
he listened to a kind and impressive statement 
of the underlying principles of peace and non- 
resistance, remains a vivid and memorable picture. 
f Mr. Garrison's words did more harm to my 
military pride and inclination than ever the " True 
Grandeur of Nations," ' he said to them as they 
left the house. Returning to Japan, he informed 
his government that his conscience forbade him to 
enter upon a military career, and was promptly 
cast into prison for his contumacy ; but he un- 
flinchingly adhered to his resolution. He was 
released after a time, and degraded to a position 
which gave him a scanty subsistence ; but, when 
last heard from, he was still true to his principles " 
(vol. iv., p. 247). 

In January, 1876, Garrison sustained a great 
loss in the death of his wife, and during the year 
his health became so impaired that next spring 
his friends persuaded him to try the effect of 
another visit to Europe, Three months were 



172 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



pleasantly spent in England and Scotland, and 
good work was done — especially in the cause of 
National purity. 

The first person whom Garrison sought on his 
arrival in Liverpool was Mrs. Josephine Butler, 
and she and her co-workers were greatly encouraged 
and strengthened by his whole-hearted sympathy 
and support. While in London he took a prominent 
part in a general conference of the various associa- 
tions for procuring the repeal of the Contagious 
Diseases Acts. Invited by the president to address 
the meeting, he said : — 

" I have heard of your doings when on the other 
side of the Atlantic, and my heart went out to you. 
I felt myself one with you in spirit, one with you in 
your aim. I often said, — you did not hear me, but 
I said it in my heart many times, — with my heart's 
voice, I said, ' God bless the noble men and women 
now striving to cleanse the land of England of the 
foul pollution implied by such atrocious laws as 
they are working to abolish/ Your cause is 
righteous. This question of pollution — What ! 
not to be confronted ! Not to be talked about ! 
Men andwomen to be separatewhen they talk about 
it ! Why separate ? If they are virtuous, shall 
they not speak of that which is not virtuous and 
denounce it in common ? It struck me as rather 
singular when I heard ... of certain gentlemen 
so exceedingly virtuous, so exceedingly afraid of 
anything indelicate in the presence of ladies, that 
they cannot discuss this matter ... I have no 
respect for virtue which will not have pollution 
brought forward into the very light of the sun, so 
that, being seen, it may be abhorred and for ever 
put away. And this is not a matter of statistics. 
Your government sanctions pollution ; and you 
say pollution is not to be sanctioned. You are 
bound to confront it as a great immorality and 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 173 



impiety against God ; statistics cannot but show 
(if they are correctly compiled) that immorality 
does and will work evil in every direction. For 
God does not make it possible that that which in 
itself is immoral and iniquitous shall be good any- 
how, at any time, or under any circumstances. 
And thus it is that I would have you take up this 
matter, and press it home ... It invigorates and 
strengthens us to work in a righteous but unpopular 
cause ; it teaches us to know ourselves, to know 
what it is we are relying on — whether we love the 
praise of men or the praise of God. As for me, I 
think I should not know how to take part in a 
popular movement — it would seem so weakening, 
so enervating. Everybody is there, and there 
is nothing to be done, excepting to shout. Let 
others do that if they like ; but while this world 
remains as it is, while so much has yet to be done 
to make the world better, God grant that while 
I live I may be connected still, as far as possible, 
with causes which, being righteous, are unpopular 
and struggling, in God's name, against wind and 
tide. Living and dying I will give my support to 
such, and look to God for His blessing in the end " 
(vol. iv., pp. 276, 277, 278). 

The inhuman cruelties still perpetrated in the 
South, and the disfranchised and down-trodden 
condition of the coloured population evoked the 
continued activity of their life-long friend. 

Two more years spent in the service of mankind — 
speaking and writing in the cause of justice and 
righteousness — and then the change came. In 
May, 1879, this true champion of Human Rights 
passed peacefully away. 

His last public utterance was a plea for the 
enfranchisement of women ; and, within three 
months of his death, he protested, with all his old 
power, against an unrighteous attempt to pass — 



174 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



for party purposes — a Bill restricting Chinese emi- 
gration, in defiance of existing treaty obligations. 

The concluding words of his article on this sub- 
ject are so characteristic, and inculcate principles 
of such universal application and importance that 
they may fitly serve to close this brief account of 
Garrison's life and labours. 

" Mr. Blaine shows that he is not sincere — if that 
is too harsh a term, certainly not consistent — in 
basing his opposition to the treaty on the ground 
that we are having, or at least have had, under it, 
nothing but a profligate cunningly devised coolie 
immigration from China. What he wants is 
virtual non-intercourse with that country. It is 
not simply a lot of degraded Chinese — duped and 
enthralled by contract — that he objects to ; he 
despises the entire population of the Celestial 
Kingdom, and (oh, foolish pride !) vaunts himself 
on the superiority of his own stock ! He says : 
' California is capable of maintaining a vast popu- 
lation of Anglo-Saxon freemen, if we do not sur- 
render it to Chinese coolies.' Again : 1 The only 
question we have to regard is, whether on the whole 
we will devote that interesting and important 
section of the United States to be the home and 
the refuge of our own people and our own blood, 
or whether we will continue to leave it open, not 
to the competition of other nations like ourselves, 
(a sop to Irishmen, Germans, etc.), but to those 
who, degraded themselves, will inevitably degrade 
us/ There is nothing reasonable or manly, or even 
plausible, in this ; it is narrow, conceited, selfish, 
anti-human, anti- Christian. 

" Against this hateful spirit of caste I have 
earnestly protested for the last fifty years, wherever 
it has developed itself, especially in the case of 
another class, for many generations still more 
contemned, degraded and oppressed ; and the time 



WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 175 



has fully come to deal with it as an offence to God, 
and a curse to the world wherever it seeks to bear 
sway. The Chinese are our fellow men, and are 
entitled to every consideration that our common 
humanity may justly claim. In numbers they 
constitute one-third of mankind. Of existing king- 
doms theirs is the oldest, the most peaceable, and 
apparently the most stable. Education is widely 
diffused among them, and they are a remarkably 
ingenious, industrious, thrifty and well-behaved 
people. Such of them as are seeking to better 
their condition — being among the poorer classes — - 
by coming to these shores, we should receive with 
hospitality and kindness. If properly treated, 
they cannot fail to be serviceable to ourselves or to 
improve their own condition. It is for them to 
determine what they shall eat, what they shall 
drink, and wherewithal they shall be clothed ; 
to adhere to their own customs and follow 
their own tastes as they shall choose ; to make 
their own contracts and maintain their own 
rights ; to worship God according to the dictates 
of their own consciences, or their ideas of re- 
ligious duty. Such of them as may be in a 
filthy or squalid state we must endeavour to 
assist to a higher plane ; and if we would see 
them become converts to Christianity, we must 
show them its purifying and elevating power by 
our dealings with them. To assert that they are 
incapable of being converted is as much at variance 
with facts as to limit the saving power of our 
religion to those of * our own blood/ as Mr. Blaine 
egotistically terms it. The same assertion was 
formerly made in disparagement of our coloured 
population. But it was false in their case, and it 
is not less false in the other. 

" It is pitiable to see how determined Mr. Blaine 
is to depict the Chinese immigrants as so utterly vile 



176 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 



in their habits and morals as to be incapable of 
reformation, and too loathsome to be endured. He 
knows that there is a large portion of them who are 
neat in their persons, courteous in their deportment, 
excellent in character, and worthy in an eminent 
degree, but he makes no exceptions. And if there 
were none to be made, still the Christian obligation 
would rest upon us to try to extricate them from 
the miry pit, to the extent of the means that we 
happily possess. Evidently no such thought 
enters into the mind of Mr. Blaine, and he would 
leave them to their miserable fate as unconcernedly 
as though they belonged to the brute creation. 
And as the climax of his speech, and also of his 
assurance, he declares : ' We have this day to 
choose whether we will have for the Pacific Coast 
the civilisation of Christ or the civilisation of 
Confucius/ Has he forgotten that, long before 
the advent of Christ, it was from the lips of Con- 
fucius came that golden rule which we are taught 
in the Gospel to follow as the rule of life in all our 
dealings with our fellow men, and which, carried 
into practice, will ensure peace, happiness^ and 
prosperity not only to the dwellers on the Pacific 
Coast, but to all peoples on the face of the whole 
earth ? 

" This is not a personal controversy with Mr. 
Blaine, but a plea for human brotherhood as 
against all caste assumptions and clannish distinc- 
tions ; and I take leave of him, earnestly hoping 
that he may be led to see and regret the great mis- 
take of his public career " (vol. iv., pp. 298, 299, 
300). 



